Discovery
by Mariel Nightstalker
Summary: In the summer between 5th and 6th year, Harry Potter is sent to a camp for foriegn exchange students looking for a taste of British culture, where he meets Jacob Black. AU CROSSOVER SLASH Harry Potter/Jacob Black
1. Chapter 1

DISCOVERY: CHAPTER 1

"But I don't want to go to the _stupid_ coast! I want to go to Germany with Piers!"

Dudley's whining rang throughout the entire house, and Harry groaned, pulling his flat, lifeless pillow over his head. It was infested with mites and smelled vaguely of mucous and the waxy scent of unwashed hair, courtesy of Dudley, but it still buffered the sound so he wasn't inclined to be too picky about its quality.

The low buzz of his Aunt's placations followed his cousin's whining, and they were accompanied by the gruff affection of his uncle, the sounds melding together like some strange sort of symphony, played by uneducated children.

"Make it stop…" He mumbled into his pillow, the sounds torturing his aching head. Last night he'd made the poor decision of breaking out the bottle of clear liquid that Luna had slipped him before he left Hogwarts to spend the summer at the Dursleys. He hadn't known what it was at the time, since she'd thoughtfully torn the label off and only winked and said that it would help.

Apparently the clear liquid had been vodka, and he'd obviously had more than he should have. Every nerve in his body was pissed at him, and his bladder ached from being stretched for so long.

At last he stumbled to his feet, once the discordant sounds of his family communicating had sufficiently died down, and headed for the bathroom.

He emerged half an hour later, clean and refreshed although still a little dizzy.

Unfortunately, Dudley came upstairs just at that moment, took in the sight of harry in a towel, and snickered cruelly.

"You're so skinny." He giggled, waddling past him into his own room and closing the door with a bang that made Harry's head ring.

"Oh…" he moaned, gripping his head and reaching out to press a palm against the dancing wall for support. He stood stock still until everything that shouldn't move stopped doing so, and then stumbled back into his room and got dressed slowly. He was surprised that his Aunt hadn't woken him up to make breakfast that morning, but he wasn't complaining.

They were probably just going through one of their phases where they were terrified of him again, or maybe Dumbledore sent them a letter. He didn't think that either option was very likely, but a third one didn't present itself so he shrugged it off and went back to sleep, dressed in a sack-like shirt and socks from Mrs. Weasley.

Not 45 minutes later, Aunt Petunia banged on his door with her bony knuckles.

"Boy! Pack your things! We leave in half an hour!"

Startled out of sleep, Harry flopped over the side of the bed and ended up flat on his back, staring at the bland ceiling.

The knuckles struck again, sending needles through his head, and she yelled, "Did you hear me, boy?"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." He said as loudly as he could, although there was a scratchy undertone to his voice that wouldn't normally have been present.

She didn't say anything else for a moment, and then he heard the whispery sound of her carpet slippers moving away across the carpet. He groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Thankfully, he hadn't been there long enough to really unpack much, so he stuffed his necessities back into his trunk and put away the Transfiguration homework that he'd half-heartedly tried to focus on last night before his curiosity over Luna's gift overwhelmed his resolution.

He picked up the bottle from under his bed, and raised his eyebrows when he saw that he'd barely had an eight of its contents, when last night it'd been empty. It must have been one of those magically-refilling bottles, even if it was made out of plastic.

He hid it inside one of his uglier shirts and stuffed his school things on top of it, suddenly feeling self-conscious about owning something illegal.

Hedwig was asleep on the window sill, her head tucked under her wing, and gleaming in the morning sunlight. He came closer slowly, opening the door to her cage. Her feathers were soft under the tip of his finger as he gently stroked her head, waking her slowly. She cooed at him, yellow eyes opening slowly, and then obediently crawled into the open cage that he held close to her.

Within minutes she had her head tucked back under her wing, as if to say that it was too early in the morning to be doing this.

He did a last-minute search of his room for anything he might have forgotten, and then, satisfied, he went downstairs to wash the dishes. He'd found that there was something very fulfilling in doing things that people wanted you to do without getting asked yet. It made him feel a little bit smug for some reason.

Vernon was the only one downstairs, sitting on the sofa in the parlor and watching the morning news with the paper folded into a manageable size in his swollen hands. Harry made a face at his back and set to work, wanting to get things done as soon as possible. He felt nauseous because of his empty stomach, so he snuck a couple pieces of bread, hiding two away for latter by wrapping them in a paper towel and tucking them down the front of his pants. It was embarrassing but effective.

Aunt Petunia came downstairs just as he was finishing, with a towel wrapped around her head and one loose piece of hair, still dripping wet, coiled around the base of her scrawny neck like a worm. He wrinkled his nose without thinking, and she smacked his head as she walked past him to prepare herself some more tea.

Hearing the sounds of the kettle being put on again, Vernon called out that he would like a cup as well.

While she was occupied, Harry got out mugs for them and then cautiously asked, "Where are we going?"

"_You _are going to your Aunt Marge's, and the rest of us are going to the coast for the summer. We'll get you before your silly school starts." She sneered at him over her shoulder, and he bit back a nasty comment about her house dress, which had a pattern of over-size roses on it that didn't suit her coloring or shape at all. They made her look like a toothpick in a feed sack.

He didn't say anything else, and since she didn't immediately give him some chore to do before they left, he went back upstairs to his room, taking care to be quiet once he got there so that he wouldn't wake Hedwig up.

A few minutes later he heard his Aunt go into Dudley's room and start simpering to him about what clothes he wanted to wear to the beach while she packed his trunk for him. Harry snorted, and Hedwig stirred, ruffling her feathers and sending him a seething look for daring to upset her sleep.

"Sorry." He whispered. She just turned her back on him, going back to sleep. he decided to do the same, lowering himself back onto his lumpy mattress. The bland ceiling lulled him into sleep, and he didn't wake until Aunt Petunia banged on his door again and ordered him to pack their entire luggage into the car.

He did so in silence, and got inside when he was finished, holding Hedwig between his knees. He hummed to her, hoping to soothe her to the degree that she wouldn't make a scene while they were on their way to Aunt Marge's, since there was no telling what his uncle was capable of when his hatred for the unnatural was combined with his road rage.

Dudley opened the car door opposite him and levered his clumsy body inside, not looking up from his handheld video game for a moment. Harry was happy that nobody was talking, since Vernon was listening to some radio station about immigrants and Petunia was reading the latest bestselling romance novel. A funny little smile was hovering around her mouth that turned his sensitive stomach, so he looked away and stared out at the scenery instead.

He knew that they'd arrived when the sounds of dogs barking startled him out of sleep.

Petunia was twisted around almost completely in her seat, one clawed hand outstretched to shake his shoulder, and an ugly look twisting her face. She froze when his eyes opened, and she retracted her hand almost like a guilty child caught in the act of robbing the biscuit tin.

"Ah." She said. "Well, we're here. Marge knows to not expect us to stop in, since we have a long drive ahead of us, so go get your things." She leaned forward, dropping her voice a few notes unconsciously, "And I don't want to hear a single peep about any freakishness on your part while we're gone, do you hear me?"

He blinked innocently. "I'll be an absolute angel."

Taken aback, she turned away from him. "well, get on with it."

He got out of the car and maneuvered Hedwig onto the gravel drive. The second he had his trunk out, the car peeled away and the faint scent of burnt rubber spiced the air. He rolled his eyes at their dramatics and hefted his trunk, starting the long walk up to Aunt Marge's house.

000

End chapter one

So…let me know if you guys like it so far, even though this is an introduction.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: this is set in the summer between Twilight and New Moon, when Bella and Edward had their 'perfect' summer together. I've changed it so that Jake and Bella started getting close before Edward left.

CHAPTER 2

Jacob finished tightening the bolts, wiped his forehead, and let out a deep sigh of satisfaction. Working in the body shop was hard work, and tedious at times when he'd rather be goofing off with Quil and Embry, but most of the time he loved it. There was just something magical about fixing things, molding metal with his hands, and he reveled in the knowledge that he was playing an integral part in keeping his family afloat, even though his family only consisted of him and his dad.

The money wasn't bad, either, when there was enough to skim off.

And that was what he'd been doing for the past couple of years in case he ever wanted to do something more exotic than go to the movies, and finally he had a great idea of what to do with his now not-inconsiderable sum.

The phone rang, and he jumped up to answer it before the answering machine took over.

"Hello?"

"Jake? It's Bella."

He smiled, leaning against the counter, suddenly self-conscious. "Hey, Bella! How are you?"

He could hear her smiling. "Oh, I'm doing well. I talked to Edward about our little idea and he wants to come along; is that okay?"

A dead weight settled on top of his chest, blocking out the warmth of his daydreams of a beautiful trip to Europe with his crush. But he knew that showing how hurt he was would only make her feel guilty, and he could never live with himself if he went and made her feel bad, so he hid it. "Y-Yeah, of course that's okay! I mean…" he laughed, a sharp hint of bitterness creeping into it against his will, "he _is _your boyfriend. I didn't expect you to come on a trip just with me and leave him behind."

"Oh my god, you are the best friend ever!" She exclaimed, letting out a little squeal. "I am so excited! I've always wanted to go to Europe, and it is so awesome that I get to go with my boyfriend _and _my best friend!"

The jealous little kid that lived in the corner of his mind noticed that she said the word 'boyfriend' before 'best friend'. It was nice to know that he would always be number two in her life, forever the bridesmaid in the sick wedding of her heart. "I'm excited too." He managed through the rest of their conversation, reviewing the details of their departure a week from then.

By the time she hung up, saying that she had to make dinner for Charlie, his face hurt from all of the false laughter he'd given her. His face crumpled into a mix between tearful and furious as he sank slowly down into the swivel chair. Its tweed covering was worn thin with age and smelled like rubber and engine grease, but it was comforting and familiar as he spun in slow circles.

When he'd told Bella about his plan to go to England for a change of scenery, she'd agreed to go along with him with enthusiasm that'd blinded him to the fact that she was dating someone else and had absolutely no romantic interest in him. But no matter how much he hoped otherwise, he knew that at long as Edward was in the picture, he didn't stand a chance.

There were many tours and programs available to tourists visiting England, and he'd spent many a long Sunday afternoon poring over the different websites and magazines until he'd found an option that was both inexpensive and would meet Mr. Swan's approval. It was a glorified summer camp where young people from around the world, from ages 5 to 21, could be kept in a contained environment with a few daytrips to the big sight-seeing spots thrown in where they would get to interact with British teens who wanted to meet people from other countries. Lodging and food were included in the very reasonable cost, and the photographs looked great since it was a newly constructed facility with all of the modern conveniences. It was a dream comes true…except for the part where _Edward Cullen _would be tagging along, of course.

He rubbed his face, reclining back in the chair and groaning with frustration. Not only did Edward go out of his way to make him feel uncomfortable whenever they were both visiting Bella at the same time, and often had the nerve to butt into their private conversations when they were supposed to be alone.

Not to mention that it felt like he was being stabbed in the spine whenever Edward decided to make out with Bella in front of him, which he knew Bella was uncomfortable with.

"Jake?"

His dad's wheel chair came into the office and his dad raised his eyebrows when he saw his son sprawled out lifelessly on the chair.

"What the hell is the matter with you, Jake? Are you on your period or something?" He demanded, crossing his arms. "I wanted you to get that junker polished up after you finished with the Parker's mini van, and yet here you are, lazing around. It's almost dinner time!"

"I totally forgot about that!" Jake jumped up and grabbed a fresh rag out of the plastic bin. "I'll get it done before we eat, I promise!"

"You'd better." Billy muttered under his breath when his son had danced out of the office, bursting with energy as always. "What am I going to do without him…?"

He'd been very reticent about Jacob going to England initially, but he warmed up to the idea when Jake kindly pointed out how slow business had been lately and the fact that Embry owed him a huge favor, which he was going to repay by manning the shop in his absence. It would be good for his son to see more of the world, to establish some healthy ambition in him. Goals were easier to accomplish when you'd seen the rewards with your own eyes, after all.

000

The doorbell's hollow sound sent shivers of apprehension down his spine, so he shifted his feet and thumbed his sweaty grip on the handle of his trunk. It was just shy of noon and the sun was already baking the top of his head and the tip of his nose. Hedwig was protesting the heat as well by curling herself into a tiny ball next to her water bowl, which she'd emptied in seconds.

He sighed. The last thing he wanted to start the summer off with was sunburn, but that would appear to be the case. And, since he was staying with Aunt Marge, things could only go downhill from here. The barking was unbearably loud, and he wondered if they ever shut up.

He rang the doorbell again, rocking on the balls of his feet. It flew open before the chimes died off, and Aunt Marge stood there in all of her glory, bare feet in a pair of carpet slippers that Harry knew Vernon must have bought her for Christmas.

"Oh, it's you." the way she said his name made him feel like he was a cockroach that she'd discovered lurking behind her rice tin. "Well, come inside before the cold air rushes out!"

He hurried to comply, ignoring her disdainful up-down sweep of his physical appearance.

"You're still as skinny as ever, I see." She huffed. "You will be sleeping in the guest bedroom on the left side upstairs until you leave the day after tomorrow."

Harry froze in place, one shoe half-off. "I'm sorry?"

She looked affronted. "Surely you couldn't be so daft to assume that I would be keeping you underfoot all summer! Hah! No, you will spend the next two months at a summer camp, where I hope that you pick up some good breeding, because lord knows that your parents didn't help you in that regard. And before you open your trap, yes, you can take your bird with you."

His eyes narrowed, but he didn't dare ask her for any more details. If there was one thing Aunt Marge hated, it was people who didn't know when to keep their mouths shut. Instead, he asked, "Once I've put my things away, would you like me to do any chores for you?"

A suspicious gleam entered her eyes and she looked at him askance. "Maybe…why do you seem so eager?"

He forced a vapid smile. "Because I want to reward you for your wonderful hospitality to me, of course! I could never expect you to give me a place to stay and food to eat without repaying you."

"Hm, we shall see. Now, away with you!" she made shooing motions and he didn't argue. Chores was the last thing on his list of summer activities, but maybe if he buttered her up, she wouldn't starve him or withhold vital information, such as just where he would really be spending his summer. He'd heard all kinds of horror stories about summer camps from Dean and Seamus, and had absolutely no intention of ending up naked in the woods through some complex social acceptance ritual.

The room was drab and unimaginative, like all guest rooms, and smelled like stale air freshener. He set his trunk up in a corner and opened the window to let in some fresh air. The frame stuck, so he would have to remember that in the future. Hedwig flapped her wings excitedly when he put her cage on the little table set up under the window next to the wash basin, and he opened her cage after a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure that the door was closed. He didn't want Hedwig to get any ideas about exploring Aunt Marge's house.

He sat down on the bed heavily, and discovered that it squeaked rather loudly. He looked around himself curiously, hoping to see something interesting about the room. Other than the pictures of bulldogs with lower prize ribbons than those on display everywhere else in the house, there was nothing that could separate it from a hotel room.

"Potter!"

And so it began.

The next two days were spent doing everything from cooking unfamiliar (and complicated) recipes to shoveling dog dung into neat little recyclable plastic bags. No matter how diligent he was, the closest to approval he got from her was a not-frown.

He'd given up on getting more details on this summer camp by the time he woke up on the morning of the third day, still smelling faintly of dog despite the rigorous scrub-down he'd given himself last night.

She rapped on his door, told him to wake up or get a thrashing, and walked away without checking to see whether or not he was really awake yet and not about to fall back asleep at a moments notice.

He was glad that he'd had the presence of mind not to touch the vodka while he was there. Who knew, maybe she could detect the latent presence of alcohol in his veins just by looking at him? He snorted at the thought of what her no doubt horrified reaction would have looked like as he dressed, all the while sniffing himself with disdain. He was out of his room in just over five minutes, and washed his face and brushed his teeth in a hurry in the bathroom across the hall, which had seashells imprinted in the wall tiles. He thought that they looked rather nice, even if they were a little too nice for Aunt Marge, and didn't match the horrible beige shower curtain.

She was apparently just about to yell his name when he walked into the kitchen because her mouth was open, and he had to hold back a laugh when she shut her mouth a click and mutely gestured to the toaster and tea kettle. She'd already fried up her sausages and he could smell waffles in the oven.

That was the key difference between the way he was treated here and the way he was treated at the Dursleys- Aunt Marge had a fascination with fattening him up and forced him to eat more than he could handle. It was unpleasant, but less unpleasant than feeling nauseous because there wasn't anything in his stomach but moldy bread and stomach lining.

When they'd finished eating, and he felt fit to burst, she told him to go and pack up his things and meet her outside in fifteen minutes flat or she'd have his hide. He hurried to comply.

"Now, Potter, you can stick your trunk in the backseat and keep your wretched bird with you so it doesn't have a panic attack." She snapped when he came outside, lugging his trunk behind him. "And you'd better not have dragged that heavy thing across my nice wood floors!"

"Of course not!" he lied, and inside the house, scratch marks from the metal edges of his trunk faded away as his magic tried to smooth away his mistake.

"Good. Now get in the damn car!"

He hustled around, put his trunk away, smashing his arm against the side of the door by accident in his rush, and settled in the passenger seat up from. She promptly started the engine and the car roared out of the drive way.

"Um, how long is the camp?" He asked tentatively.

"It is as long as it needs to be. It goes as long as October, and you can renew how long the student in present every two weeks. I intend to keep you there until my brother comes back from the coast because you're a pain in the ass."

_So are you _he added in his mind.

The drive was only two hours, and she didn't say a word to him throughout the entire trip. They listened to some popular book on tape that was about dog breeding. He couldn't say that this surprised him.

When they passed a sign that was eight feet tall in an effort to cram in the same name in as many languages as possible, which prevented him from seeing the English name, he started to pay more attention. There were sweeping lawns only slightly yellowed from the harsh June sunlight, and trees fencing everything in neatly. Through the gaps in the trees he could see electric fence, and he made a face. It might seem nice enough, but it was still a cage.

The large facility was divided first into halves, one side for the girls, one side for the boys, and then into age groups, and he was driven to the long one-story building with the numbers '15-16-17' painted in bright yellow against the front and sides of it, like it was a bunker. The door was painted yellow, and so were the steps. The railings were black, and so was the metal material that created the walls.

The overall impression reminded him of a bumblebee, or Hufflepuff house. There were only two other cars in front of it, and one of them was a taxi out of which a positively massive boy-man with short-cropped brown hair that reminded him of Viktor Krum was stepping out of. Dimly, through the walls of the car and over the rush of the air conditioning, he could hear him speaking in some Slavic language to the squat woman hovering around him. Aunt Marge jerked the car to a stop, not even bothering to put it into 'park' and said, "Behave yourself. If I get one nasty letter or hear a single peep of a complaint about you, I am driving up here and dragging you by your hair to a different kind of camp altogether, the kind where they put boys who can't behave themselves."

He nodded solemnly to show that he understood and then stepped out of the car, setting Hedwig's cage on the dirt path. His trunk was hot from being in the sun and the metal parts burned his hands as he handled it, but he didn't show any signs of pain. He would be damned before he let himself look like a spineless weakling in front of Aunt Marge.

The Slavic boy looked over at him when the car roared away so quickly, drawing his thick eyebrows together quizzically. He had a broad honest face, the kind that just screamed 'I might be big but I'm a nice guy', and so Harry smiled at him. He smiled back, face splitting into a huge grin. When he saw Harry glance inquiringly at the squat woman, he rolled his eyes and Harry snorted.

He dragged his trunk up the stairs and through the open door, where a man with a mustache directed him to a bunk bed on the far side of the room. His name tag read 'Earl'.

Harry slid his trunk underneath the bed, as you were evidently supposed to since all of the other boys, and there weren't many, w ere doing. He debated over what to do with Hedwig, but Earl bustled over and rescued him, saying,

"Sorry, laddie, I didn't notice that you had a pet! All pets are kept in the Animal House, and you can see them any time you like, but can't take them out. If you'll just give her to me and tell me your name, I can see to her for you."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Harry gushed a little bit, overwhelmed to see a second friendly face in one day. "I'm Harry Potter."

"Two 'T's?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded for lack of something better to do, and Earl ruffled his hair while simultaneously taking Hedwig's cage gently from his hand.

"I'll see to it that she's as happy as can be, don't you worry about that, laddie."

"Thank you." Harry watched him go, and then sat down on the bottom bunk. He didn't want to endure a fight with his bunkmate over which of them would get the top, so he was bowing out early. He lay back, and crushed something with his head.

Pulling it out, he saw that it was a piece of paper with a schedule printed on it.

This was real. He was at an honest-to-goodness summer camp, and nothing had gone wrong yet. He couldn't believe his luck. This was a far cry from the decrepit buildings accompanied by out houses that he'd been expecting.

His musings were interrupted by the Slavic boy approaching and sliding his suitcase under the bed. He leaned over Harry and stuck out his hand, saying in a thick accent,

"I am Aleksey, and I am from Russia. Who are you?"

"I'm Harry, and I'm from England." Harry replied, shaking his hand. Aleksey's hand could probably crush stone to powder. "It's lovely to meet you."

Aleksey grinned. "I want to be your friend, yes?"

000

End chapter 2

This one is a lot longer than the last. And yes, I will be giving Jacob's point of view from time to time. Oh, and Aleksey is based off a real Russian kid I know, and adore, because he's just a big lovable guy.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own either Twilight or Harry Potter. Anybody that you don't recognize, however, is mine.

CHAPTER 3

Jake sat down on the couch that Bella indicated to him, confused and cradling his hot chocolate in both hands. It burned a little, but he was too worried about her to take much notice of the slow searing of his palms and fingertips.

"I don't understand…is everything okay? You look kind of pale."

She hesitated, and then shook her head. "I'm okay, but I feel awful about what I'm about to tell you."

He frowned. "Did something happen? Please tell me what's going on! I'm freaking out."

Bella twisted her hands in her lap and avoided his eyes. He could see Edward's silver Volvo pull up through the window behind her and an ugly feeling rose inside his heart. He had a feeling that he already knew what she was going to say.

"I know that this is such short notice, but I can't come with you to England this weekend."

Edward was getting out of his car, and he had a wrapped box with him. Alice, his sister, got out of the other side of the car and did a little jig before she followed her brother out of sight and presumably up the steps.

He tore his eyes away and forced himself not to shout as he asked, "Why not?"

"Um, because Alice is going to Paris for her birthday, and so is the rest of the family, so Edward asked me to come with them instead. I am so sorry!" She jumped up and sat next to him, rocking the cushions and making his hot chocolate course over the rim of his mug and burned his hands. He jumped up, cursing, and went into the kitchen to rinse his hands under cold water.

She didn't follow him to see if he was alright, and he could hear her answering the door and greeting the Vampires.

He couldn't believe this! They were leaving in _two days _and now she chose to spring this on him! Now he was going on a vacation…by himself. The days in England that he'd been anticipating now seemed bleak and pointless, no matter how spectacular the sights of London were supposed to be. He'd never known that Bella could be so thoughtless of his feelings. It seemed like, the more he knew about her, the less he liked her. He couldn't stop his attraction to her, but he'd also started to hate her a little bit as well.

He smelled her before he saw her, and looked up to see Alice Cullen enter the kitchen alone. She wordlessly came closer to him, seized his hands out from under the cold faucet, and squeezed them in her own frozen palms. She moved her fingers soothingly across his angry red skin, and he was unable to say a word, speechless at this uncalled for act of kindness.

When his hands were numb and all of the redness was gone, she smiled at him, patted his shoulder, and left for the living room where he could hear Edward and Bella talking in that flirty way of theirs. He'd noticed that they never talked normally like other couples to each other- it was always dramatics and pet names with them.

The minutes ticked by, and he made himself another mug of chocolate, taking his time while eavesdropping on what the Vampires were saying. Even though she was a leech, Alice seemed nice, unlike her brother.

And then he couldn't think of another excuse to remain in the kitchen, so he grudgingly picked up his mug, gingerly this time, and walked into the living room. Bella looked up from Edward's head, which was in her lap, and smiled like nothing was wrong, like she hadn't just dashed his whole summer in one sentence.

He smiled weakly back and blew on his cocoa. Two days from now he would leave alone, and come back alone a month later.

He scowled into his hot chocolate. Nobody noticed.

000

Harry awoke to the sound of Aleksey pulling his suitcase out from under their bed, obviously trying to be quiet about it. He winced apologetically when he saw that Harry had awakened despite his best efforts, but Harry mutely waved a hand to show that he didn't mind. Raising himself groggily onto his elbows, he craned his head to see the clock thoughtfully hung on the far side of the wall. The glowing numbers proclaimed proudly that it was 7 in the morning.

He absently dug the schedule out from under his pillow, where he'd stashed it for safe-keeping, and looked over it. The official wake-up time was 8, and breakfast was served between then and 9:30. Looking around, he saw that most of the other boys, and there were just over ten of them total, himself included, were still asleep. Three were missing, though, and he could hear the soft sounds of the showers that were attached to the back of their dormitory.

Sinking back against the candy-striped pillow, he lay softly in bed just thinking for a while since his legs still felt too heavy with sleep to risk standing on them. He rolled onto his side and cupped his face with his palm, eyes fluttering open and closed as he flirted with sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, Aleksey was shaking his shoulder.

"Wake up, friend. Everyone else is awake, and we have decided to go to breakfast hall together. I assume that you would like to come along with us."

"Oh." Was all that Harry could think to say, and he blinked slowly as his brain tried to wake up for the last time. His body felt even heavier this time around, and his mouth was dry. Wordlessly, Aleksey handed him his water bottle. He could tell that it was Aleksey's because the brand name stamped on the plastic was in Russian.

"Thanks." He whispered hoarsely, taking a sip, and then a long drink when Aleksey gestured at him encouragingly. "And I appreciate you waking me up. It would've been awkward for me to come skulking into the breakfast hall long after everyone else had left."

Aleksey grinned. "I understand this."

"Good." Harry replied, for lack of anything better to say. He didn't quite know how to feel about Aleksey. Last night, before lights out and all through dinner, the Russian boy had chattered about his country and his family, and his sister that he loved very much. Harry hadn't minded listening to him because it was interesting to learn about what growing up somewhere else was like, and Aleksey had a heavy, pleasant voice. If he had to describe his voice, he would say that it was the voice equivalent of a chocolate pudding- rich and fulfilling.

"I will wait for you while you get ready, okay?" Aleksey sat cross-legged on the floor, and pulled a little blue-bound book out of his breast pocket. He wore a button-down shirt and shorts. The combination was a little odd, but Harry was wearing clothes three sizes too big so he couldn't really make remarks about how other people looked.

He pulled his trunk out dutifully, and then asked, as he tried to find a not-so-embarrassing outfit to wear, "What book is that?"

"It is a Russian book with little stories in it, all by Nikolai Leskov."

"Oh." Harry shot a smile at him and then scurried back into the bathrooms and selected a shower stall. The water sputtered and spat its way out of the pipes, lukewarm, as he stripped out of his sleep shirt and shorts.

His shower was brief and uneventful, although he did nearly lose his soap bar down the drain in the middle of the floor and had to run out naked to catch it before it could fall. There wasn't anybody else in there, though, except for one guy at the urinals who didn't bother to look up, so it wasn't so bad.

Aleksey was still waiting for him, this time sitting on the lower bunk, when he emerged, half-heartedly running his jagged nails through his damp hair.

"Ah, you are fast!" Aleksey exclaimed, unfolding his large body and replacing his book in his breast pocket. "The others are ready; we waited for you."

Harry blushed with pleasure. "You guys didn't need to do that!"

"Yeah, we did. The Russian might have killed us if we didn't." A boy joked. Harry recognized him from dinner last night, but couldn't remember his name. He was English, though. That much he could remember.

He laughed and said, "Well, I've finished preening like a girl, so we can go now before you saps make me sick with your favors."

This earned some appreciative laughs and the boys sleepily made their way out of their dormitory and down the steps. The breakfast hall, which was used for lunch and dinner as well, was on the plot of land exactly between the girls and the boys, along with the gymnasium and counselor's offices. There was a special office for kids who missed their parents or just wanted someone to talk to, and he could see a long, low sofa through the slats of the blinds as they filed past it. Drowsing on it was a large woman, with thick bones that wouldn't give out under any circumstances, and her hair glinted like gold in the morning sunshine.

He didn't think about her for long, since they'd arrived at the cafeteria and there were some girls sitting on the steps, probably waiting for someone. They smiled at them as they walked past, and Harry smiled back.

Aleksey leaned down, once they passed through the doors and lined up in front of the buffet, and whispered, "I like the one with the scarlet hair."

Harry nodded absently, recalling the girl with the short, dyed hair and nose piercing who'd been sitting a little ways away from the other girls, who looked like sisters or at least cousins. They'd all had the same long brown hair, plaited neatly and tossed over one shoulder to hang heavily beside their breasts.

"Yeah, she looked like she had something on her mind."

"I know." Aleksey pointed to where the plates were when he noticed that Harry was trying to find them. "I want to know what it was."

"Maybe we can have her sit with us?" Harry suggested, serving himself some eggs simply because he hadn't eaten them in a while, not because he liked them. There was something weird about eating little creatures that'd never had a chance to, theoretically, leave the womb.

He shook his head, and sat down next to Harry at the table that he and his bunk mates had claimed. One of the boys had to pull up a spare chair and sit on one end because they couldn't squeeze him on either side of the benches and they didn't want to be separated.

"No, I do not want to bother her now. Maybe I will speak to her later."

Harry shrugged, not caring either way. "Okay, whatever you want."

They ate mostly in silence, with Aleksey making a comment every now and then, most of which Harry nodded at or replied, "I guess so."

000

The morning he was leaving was unpleasant, and so was the trip to the airport. The airport was disgusting and dingy and small, neglected and unwashed, but he hardly noticed around the swelling misery inside of him. Everything looked horrible to him, from the peanut-butter sandwich he'd bought to eat on the plane to the state of his sneakers.

He half-hoped that his flight would be cancelled because of the rain, even if it would mean that all of the money he'd invested in the trip would be for nothing.

But the plane wasn't cancelled, and he boarded it with everyone else to the tune of an infuriated toddler's tantrum. Apparently, the little boy _really _didn't want to visit Grandma.

He got the aisle seat, which was okay, and the tiny old man sitting next to him fell fast asleep after half an hour of climbing steadily into the sky so he didn't have to worry about talking to him. He liked to be socialable with people as long as he was in a good mood, but right now he felt as rotten as a bad apple and would rather fling himself off of this plane than ride it.

He sulked the whole plane ride, and miserably dozed a little here and there since he didn't bring a book or a magazine and he couldn't see out of the window.

When it finally landed, a dizzying sensation of happiness replaced his dead feeling, and he let out a little whoop that turned heads and raised eyebrows. He hung his head in embarrassment, hunkered over his duffel bag for lack of anything better to do, and went outside to hail a taxi.

The journey to the camp was just that: a journey. He got to listen to the Armenian man driving it yammer on about his wife and how he was pretty sure that she was cheating on him with the butcher who lived up their street, and how he was afraid of dying alone. The man couldn't have been younger than fifty, and his stomach touched the steering wheel of his cab.

Jacob made sure to tip him when they arrived, and the man grinned at him and slapped a hand on his arm, squeezing it with the familiarity of those who bare their souls to those who will listen.

"You are good man, Jacob Black, to listen to an old man talk for so long without complaining."

He nodded. "Sure, no problem; everyone needs to talk sometimes."

"Still, I am happy to have met you." he then added something in his own language, winked, and put the taxi back into 'drive', and with that parting blessing, departed from Jacob's life as easily as he'd entered it.

He sighed and walked up the steps into the black-and-yellow dormitory. Inside, it was empty. Down the middle and sides of the room were rows of bunk beds, and he noticed that some of them, clustered together at the front of the room, had baggage underneath. He neatly walked past all of these, and put his duffel bag under an empty bunk.

He'd arrived. Now, all he had to do was figure out how to survive when he was a day late. With his luck, everyone else would have already formed social groups, which would leave him as the odd one out.

The door opened, though, and two boys walked briskly inside and grabbed two sheets of paper from their beds, and left. They didn't notice him. Looking at the pillow of the bunk he'd selected, he saw a sheet of paper with 'Schedule' neatly typed at the top and underlined.

He looked at his watch, a cheap Wal-Mart model, and saw that it was just after 10 in the morning. According to his schedule, right now was a sort of meet-and-greet. He grinned and hopped up, racing out the door in search of the field labeled 'Glenbrook', where this was being held.

Maybe he wasn't too late.

000

End chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Glenbrook was hardly a grassy field at all, since what grass there might have once been was trampled to yellow stalks sticking up here and there in the brown hard-packed earth, and there wasn't a brook in sight, unless you counted the plastic water dispensers, which were the only sources of water other than the small buildings that housed the toilets.

There were maybe a hundred children, although some of them were a bit old to be called that, milling around the field. About half of them were lying out on the grass, already forming their own packs of acquaintances. As he wandered through them, smiling at everyone and learning the names of a couple of boys and girls, his attention was grabbed by a group much larger than the others. They were almost all boys, with a pair of Indian girls and one red-head mixed in.

His eyes glossed over them, and he gauged their ages idly. When he realized that they were all either his age or close to it, he decided that they must be his room mates. It would probably be a good idea to introduce himself, so he came closer and was about to tap one of the boys on the shoulder to get his attention when a big girl grabbed his arm with a smile.

"Hi there, darling! My friend over there-" she jerked her head at a shy-looking girl with long brown hair that reminded him of Bella, "wants to meet you, but was too scared to come up to you first. She's going to kill me for doing this, but what can I say? I just _know _that you two will like each other." As she chattered on, still steadily dragging him towards the panicking brunette, he realized that her accent wasn't British. It was much thicker, richer, and the way she said her 'r' sounds was very unique.

"Where are you from?" He asked impulsively.

"I come from Germany, with my friend, and we live in the same town, close to the Black Forest area." She answered, smiling. "And you are from America or am I mistaken?"

"You got it right. I'm from Washington; you speak really good English!" If he hadn't noticed the extra thickness to the way she rolled her tongue, he never would have been able to guess.

"Oh, thank you. I'm Meredith, by the way."

"Jacob."

They'd reached her friend, who was nervously chewing on a piece of her hair. She jumped when Jacob cleared his throat, and he almost laughed because she reminded him of a timid rabbit.

"June, I know you told me not to, but I've brought him over and he's as nice as he looks. Jake, meet June."

He held out his hand, and after a moment, she shook it. Her grip was weak and clammy from her sweaty palms. She smiled back after a moment, and he found that it was worth all of her bashfulness. She was aptly named 'June', since her smile was as fresh and warm as the days of that month.

"I'm sorry that I didn't have the spine to go and meet you all by myself, which is why I am very thankful to have my big bulldog of a cousin here to fetch you for me."

Jake glanced at Meredith again to see if she was offended by being called a bulldog, but she didn't seem even slightly upset about it so he supposed that it must be some kind of long-standing joke between them. He laughed.

"Well, I'm thankful too. I haven't really met anyone seriously yet, so I'm glad that you guys made the first move. Listen, I'm parched from this taxi ride I took- do you want to come get some water with me, and then we can find some shade to sit in?"

"That sounds smashing!" Meredith roared, and slapped him on the back like Embry used to do when he pretending to be a wrestling champion. He grinned at the thought, and wondered what his friends back home would think of the girls he'd just met.

The group of boys his age was forgotten.

000

Lunch was served in the cafeteria after a short game of foot ball in Glenbrook once the students had started to get bored of just lying around in the sun chatting, although many chose to remain as such on the outskirts of the playing field and cheered on the teams.

Jacob was going to sit with Meredith and June, but a man wearing the navy staff shirt announced his name over the loudspeakers, and met him in the councilor's office, where someone was on the phone for him.

Fearing the worst, he picked it up and breathlessly asked, "Hello? Is everything alright?"

"Jake! It's Bella!"

His mood, which had been steadily brightening the longer he was at this camp, turned black once more; he took a deep breath and said, "Bella, hi. You sound fine- is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah, everything is super here. I just wanted to call and tell you that I love, love, _love _Paris! It is so romantic here!" she giggled. "The second we landed, Edward bought me some roses. He said that its only proper for Paris. Him and Alice do have to wear hoods all of the time, so it looks like I'm walking around with a couple of thugs, but I don't mind."

"That...that's awesome, Bella, and I'm really glad that you're having a good time. Things here are good, too, and I met some-"

She cut him off before he could tell her how he was doing, since she obviously wasn't going to ask him on her own.

"Sorry, I have to go now. We're going to go up the Eiffel Tower, and Edward says that today is a good day to do it. He's been here loads of times, he says, but this is the first time that he's had a girlfriend."

Jake could just see her standing there, bouncing with excitement and clutching the phone to her shoulder. He closed his eyes slowly, and let her hang up without as much as a proper good-bye.

"Are you okay, kid?" The man asked from his desk a few feet away, and he nodded heavily. Everything was not okay, but he wasn't going to say that to a stranger, much less a stranger who had that many office nick-knacks. "Well, I suggest you hurry on back to the cafeteria before they stop serving food."

He nodded again, still not trusting himself to speak without screaming or yelling, and shuffled out of his office. He was so angry, and sad, and frustrated- it was like being pulled in a thousand different directions and all of them bad.

Gravel crunched and cracked underfoot, and he squinted up into the blue sky. It was a beautiful day to get his heart broken on.

Meredith and her friend were gone by the time he got there, since he'd told them not to wait for him if there was something they wanted to do after eating, so he sat at a table by himself.

Most of the kids were gone by now, with the exception of three seated at the far end of the room. He recognized the red-headed girl as one who'd been sitting with his dorm-mates earlier, and the large boy-man with the short dark hair was familiar as well.

There was a third person sitting with them, with his back to them. As he watched, he laughed at something the girl said, snorting soda up his nose and spilling down his shirt. The larger guy slapped him on the back, and appeared to be teasing him about his little accident while the smaller one waved his hand away to show that he was fine.

He moodily took a bite of his French fries, and scowled when he realized that he was going to think about Bella in Paris with her leech friends every time he saw a French fry until he went home.

Damn it to hell!

He didn't pay much attention to the other kids as he ate after that, and plunged head-first into the twisted problem that was Bella. He liked her, a lot, but he didn't know why. She treated him like shit, she never asked about his problems and how things were with _his _father or with _his _friends, she was dating someone else very blatantly whenever she was around him even though she knew how he felt about Edward.

Oh, how he would love to have just five minutes alone with Edward, his hands around his neck, squeezing tighter and tighter and tighter…

"God, what did that poor hamburger ever do to you?" someone asked, laughing a little. He looked down and saw that he'd been repeatedly stabbing his fork into the thin hamburger patty on his plate, since he'd shredded the bun without noticing.

"Oh…" he looked up to see who was talking to him and saw that it was the front side of the smaller of the boys. Up close he wasn't much taller than he'd looked from a distance, and had messy hair and big glasses like those worn in the eighties. It wasn't a good look for him, and made worse by the deeply oversized clothes that hung off of him like rags on a scare-crow. Where he'd rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, his arms were long and dangerously thin.

There was a long, white streak of slightly-raised skin on his right forearm. After a moment he realized that it was a scar.

"I'm Harry." The stranger said, shifting his hold on three food trays to one arm and offering his hand.

"Jake." Jacob's bad mood surged up, and he just wanted to be alone before he exploded at this guy. "Look, I'm going to sound like an asshole, but I'm not in a good mood right now. Can we do this whole friendly act some other time?"

Harry shrugged, not looking affected at all by the dark look in the other boy's eyes. "Suit yourself. Sorry to have imposed."

He walked away, and dumped the trays in the cart and walked out the door, where his friends must have gone.

Jake's eyes were drawn to him despite his ugly duckling look, and he watched him until he was out of sight.

000

The camp was remarkably accommodating to the different kinds of students that stayed with them. There was a bulletin board with checklists for various activities ranging from horse back riding to English tutoring to baking that a student could sign up for to take a two-week course in it, and there were also fliers for social events that students could participate in or help plan. You had to give the social planners two days notice if you were going to show up, and there was a limit of five courses to take per two-week period.

Harry read over his options carefully, bypassing the social events. Aleksey told him that he wasn't much of a party person, despite his appearance, and Harry didn't see the point of going to them. A party just wasn't a party without Fred and George in it, and he could never let loose here in case he accidentally did something magical.

He chose, after much internal debate, to take four courses. There was no need to rush, after all. He had a long time to learn anything that caught his fancy. The courses were in Botany, because he wanted to understand that strange fire Neville had for plants, English, because, according to Hermione, he had horrible grammar, Wood Carving for the hell of it, and Swimming. The last one was pretty self-explanatory- it was a skill that could save your life, and he needed as many of those as he could get his hands on. If they had a course for 'Surviving Men with Large Butcher Knives in Dark Alleys', he would've signed up in a heart beat.

His scars twinged as he thought about this, and he winced. He signed his name with a flourish on each of his four checklists and then stepped aside to let a blonde boy have a go.

Since he'd let Aleksey wander off with Anna, the redhead, for some one-on-one, he was left to his own devices.

Half an hour of wandering the grounds alone later, he was bored. His dorm-mates were off playing footie again, and he had no desire to either play or cheer at the moment, so that wasn't an option.

His feet led him to the councilor's offices, and he was startled to see the words 'Camp Therapist' painted above the door of one of the little wings. Curious, and too bored to find something else to do, he approached and opened the door.

It was the same room that'd he'd seen earlier, with the blinds through which a woman had been napping on the sofa.

The same woman, or at least he was pretty sure it was the same woman, was on the couch just like he'd seen last time. He was about to tiptoe quietly out before he disturbed her when she opened her mouth and said,

"Just stop right there, kiddo. You came in here for something, and I'll be damned if anybody comes to me without finding what they were looking for." She opened her eyes, and turned her head to look at him. She winked one large cow-like eye at him. "Have a seat. You can sit in my chair."

He laughed and sat in the chair she indicated, sinking into the leather seat.

"It's a nice chair, isn't it? It's much nicer than this lumpy old couch, but this I can nap on and that I can't, so a girl's got to compromise."

"I suppose so." Harry agreed.

"You suppose? Honey, you can't go through life supposing things. And don't just nod your head at me like that! A man's got to stand by his own mind sometimes, even if he's wrong, just to prove that he can."

"Um…no?"

She grinned a wide, comfortable grin at him and crooked a finger. "I've changed my mind. You're too far away. Come sit here on the floor next to me."

He rose and stumbled over to the couch, tripping over a needlework footstool that he was sure hadn't been there before. She patted the top of his head once it was near enough, and then carded her hand through his hair.

He wondered if she was allowed to do that, even if it did feel nice.

"You've got curls like a cherub." She crooned the word 'cherub' like a pigeon, her southern accent sounding as sweet as sugar. "What's your name, cherub boy?"

"Harry." Sitting there on the floor with this comfortable lady, who made him think of what a big squashy couch would be like if it was transfigured into a woman, touching his hair, he thought that this might have been what having a mother would've felt like.

"I'm Doris, Harry. Now, what made you wriggle your way into my after-lunch nap? And don't lie- I can tell when a boy is lying and I don't take too kindly to it. I don't want lies cluttering up this lovely afternoon when the sun is shining so fine."

"I was bored." Harry shrugged, and Doris giggled like a girl.

"Oh, that was a good try. Now think again…what is it that's bothering you, digging just under your skin and wanting to come out?"

"I…I met a boy today, and he told me to go away. I don't know why it's bothering me; it's such a stupid little thing."

She hummed sympathetically and combed his hair back and off of his forehead. "Oh, dearie me, you've got a big old nasty scratch on your forehead."

Maybe she hadn't heard him, or just had a very strange way of giving therapy.

000

End chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"Let's get back to this boy of yours." Meredith said after a bout of sympathy for his forehead lightning bolt. "Why don't we find out why you talked to him in the first place- did you want something from him specifically, did you feel morally obligated, or was it a whim?"

"Part of the last two; I saw him sitting there when I got up to dispose of some food trays, and he looked lonely, and I also think that we're in the same dormitory, so talking to him seemed like a good idea at the time."

She shimmied her shoulders a little into the pillow tucked under her and sighed. "So you don't have a little fire in your heart?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, and then realized that he had no idea what she'd just said. "What?"

"Never mind." She quickly replied, a tiny hint of nervousness climbing like a wave beneath her tone. Harry frowned, confused by this. Was there something illegal about what she'd just said, or maybe it'd been embarrassing? Who was he to know, really?

"I feel a little bit better now." Harry offered uncertainly when she didn't say anything else, and she grunted. "Thanks for listening. I appreciate you not laughing at me for getting so worked up over something this inane."

She patted his head, seemingly coming out of her little moment. "Oh, it's my pleasure, darling. I love listening to the youngsters that come through here. Did you know, I once met a girl who was convinced that her pet goat was her lover in a past life, and that he was pining away in Poland without her. Normally I wouldn't have thought twice about that, since it's not uncommon for people to believe that their pets were close to them in past lives, but this girl was..." Doris trailed off, wheezing with laughter. Her fingers, soft as they were, started to hurt his scalp a little as she clenched and unclenched them. "she was only seven years old! She was such a funny little thing, very serious and straight-laced about the thing."

Harry started to laugh too as the picture formed in his mind of a miniature school-ma'am type sitting on this undignified couch with her little hands clasped on her tightly-held-together knees like a nun, talking about her goat.

"What sort of advice did you give her?" he asked at last, and Doris scratched gently at the shorter, wispier hairs that grew at the base of his skull.

"I told her to wait until she was old enough, and then marry it."

She couldn't possibly be telling the truth. Harry stared straight ahead of himself at her low shelf that sagged under the weight of her collections of Freud and Jung, the top of which was decorated by cacti and a stuffed turtle. The turtle's black bead eyes stared straight on back, reflecting sunlight and hidden wisdom.

"Really?" Harry forced himself to ask at last, positive that she was going to laugh at him for falling for her prank.

No laughter was forthcoming, and he could hear her rustling as she rolled onto her side, facing him. In the half-reflection of the window he could see the pronounced curve of her hip, like a beautiful rolling hill wearing a paisley skirt that wasn't as long as it should have been. Her eyes, still as comfortable as mud between your toes, winked at him in the window as she met his eyes somehow; he couldn't see his own reflection.

A rose flush crept down his neck.

"Of course! Sometimes you just have to believe something, no matter how crazy it sounds at first. If a child that young and she was a tiny thing, can be so honestly convinced of her love for this goat, then why should I stand between her and her happiness? She was going to have the rest of the world putting her down and spitting on her, so I excuse me for rising above that nonsense."

Harry drew his legs up to his chest and looked down at the carpet. After a moment he carded his fingers through the fibers and tugged gently on the strands.

"You make it sound so easy." He whispered before he could stop himself. He could feel her smile through the back of his head as she preened him like a motherly monkey.

"It should be. Like I said, people _choose _to make a mountain out a molehill- the molehill sure isn't the one getting megalomaniacal ideas! If people could just realize this, one person at a time, then the world can change in a very big way. That's why I try to explain this to everyone who comes to me for help: I want people to leave with more than just the paltry solution to whatever little problem they were facing at the time."

Her hot breath gusted against his crown, and he leaned his head back to try and look her in the eye. She kissed his scar lightly before he could lean back very far, though, and he stilled in stunned astonishment. Nobody had ever kissed his scar like that, or at all, really.

It'd felt surprisingly nice.

She smiled down at him, not a trace of black intent in her guileless gaze. "Sorry, that was a bit forward of me, duckling."

"…I don't mind." His voice sounded hoarse even to him, and he flushed again, hating his hormones.

"Well, if you're certain. It's just that you've got such wonderful thick hair. You remind me of this poodle I had when I was a young girl."

"So I remind you of a dog?" Harry joked, and she smacked him lightly with the flat of her hand.

"Shut up, smarty. Now, off you go. I need my nap. But do come and see me after dinner, or anytime tomorrow. I'd love to have some cocoa with you and hear how things go with this boy."

He got up laboriously, and stretched his back. It crackled.

"That was an unpleasant noise." Doris wrinkled her nose.

"Sorry."

"Eh, never mind that. Now, shoo!"

Laughing at seeing her start to look flustered and drowsy at the same time, Harry took his leave, taking care to close the door quietly behind him lest he disturb her. He didn't know about talking to the cafeteria boy again, since he might get yelled at again, but he would come and visit anyway even if she scolded him.

000

As he reviewed the activities available to students, the thought of the English boy from the cafeteria weighed on his mind. The more he thought about what he'd said to him, and why, the unhappier he was about it. Harry had only been trying to be welcoming to him, and he'd brushed him off as heartlessly as Bella threw him aside.

"God, what did I have to be such an asshole?" He muttered to himself, and someone sniggered behind him. Whipping around, he saw that Meredith and June were standing just a few feet away, with what looked like cups of coffee. It steamed in the hot air.

"Isn't it too hot for coffee?" he asked, simply because he didn't know what else to say.

Meredith shrugged. "It is traditional for us to take coffee and cake in the afternoon in our country, and we don't want to give up our afternoon treat just because we're not at home right now."

"Like…like afternoon tea?" Jake suggested, trying to figure out why America didn't have an excuse for a sugary mid-afternoon snack like other countries did.

"Yes, but with coffee, obviously." June lifted her cheap foam cup mockingly. "Come, we'll find someplace cool to sit and get you some as well. The kitchen staffs are very accommodating to us."

"Well…" he hesitated. "I was planning on signing up for some things, but I suppose that I can do that after dinner. Ah, what the hell, I'll come. You guys can't be that horrible to hang out with."

Meredith cackled, punched his shoulder hard enough to rock his center of balance, and led the way to the back entrance of the cafeteria.

Coffee procured and cake sitting on its pale napkin on the seat beside him, Jake reclined on the park bench as far as he dared; the wood started to creak if he put too much of his weight on it. Meredith sat on his other side, with June on the end swinging her legs lazily back and forth.

One of her shoe laces was undone, and the cousins hummed the same folk tune.

"So…do you have a girlfriend?" Meredith asked once her humming died down.

Jake almost choked on his cake, shooting crumbs out like stars to land on the grass in front of them. Some birds would no doubt appreciate his generosity.

"Um, it's complicated." He wasn't sure why he said it like that, especially now that he was forcibly re-thinking everything that he'd thought that he felt about Bella and Edward and everything else.

"How so? Come now, don't be a tease." June spoke this time, her gentle voice taking on a strong edge of wheedling that he hadn't thought her capable of. It would appear that she wasn't above a little twisting to get what she wanted instead of sitting back and accepting what she was given like he'd originally thought.

"Well, I like this girl a lot, or I did, and for a while I thought that I might have a chance with her, but then she started dating this guy. They're really serious, but I still liked her until…"

"Until?" June probed, waving her hand in a circle. "Come on, now I know that you are just doing this to be mean to me!"

He smiled mirthlessly. Her enthusiasm was kind of flattering, in a fucked up way. "She's been really careless lately, and I'm starting to see that she's always been like this, and I don't think that I can like her like that anymore, if this is who she really is."

"Okay, that was seriously not even close to the juicy story of jilted lovers that I was looking for here." Meredith stated in a deep serious voice that evoked a mortician.

"What were you expecting?" Jake demanded, feeling a little defensive. "I like you both a lot, but I still barely know you! And I've never said half of this out loud, so its really weird to begin with."

June hung her head and made Meredith do the same by stomping on her foot. "Sorry, Jake. We didn't mean to push on you that hard. We've been told that we can over-do it sometimes, and we didn't want to do that to you."

Jake rubbed his face, and then took a sip of his coffee. It was just at that temperature that was too cool to really damage you, but just hot enough to make your tongue tingle unpleasantly. "It's okay. I'm just in a bad mood, and I already slighted a guy in the cafeteria when I was eating lunch. I need to chill out before everyone in this camp thinks that I'm an asshole."

Meredith's large, strong-looking hand settled on his shoulder and she squeezed it. "I don't think that you're an asshole. We've both got brothers, and we know how you boys get when you are having problems with the ladies."

June nodded empathically. "I don't care how bitchy you are."

"It's not like I'm on my period or something-" Jake tried to protest, but Meredith shushed him and handed him a piece of her cake.

"Here, eat some sugar. You'll feel better."

He sulkily devoured the cake, reviewing how he was going to find some way to smooth things over with Harry before he got pissed and started spreading nasty (and true) stories about his temper amongst his dorm mates.

000

Harry took Doris' example and napped in his dorm room until dinner, when Aleksey woke him up by shaking his shoulder.

"We go to eat now, Harry. Anna is waiting for us outside, since camp councilor say that no girl can go in boy's room."

He nodded and washed his face to get rid of that mucky little dribble of saliva that'd crystallized on the corner of his lips, which would have been very embarrassing to be seen with.

They walked briskly to the cafeteria, none of them saying much. Anna stood close to Aleksey, though, and every now and then Harry would catch her sending the Russian boy looks that were almost adoring. He didn't blame her- if anyone in this facility deserved that kind of devotion, Aleksey did. He didn't seem to have a selfish bone in his brawny body.

There was someone standing outside of the cafeteria doors, nursing a soda. When they got closer, Harry recognized the moody boy he'd encountered earlier.

"Oh…" he really didn't want to talk to him right now, or look at him for that matter. His pride still smarted a little.

Before he could shoulder his way through the doors, Jake's hand shot out and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. He was smiling nervously, so he paused to give him a chance to say whatever it was that was on his mind.

"Um, hi. I think that we got off on the wrong foot earlier, since I was having a personal issue, but I'd like to try again."

His eyes were wide and honest, and his voice was shaking with nerves beneath its paltry varnish of enthusiasm, so Harry nodded.

"Yeah, sure. I can understand that. I've had bad days too. Are you in the 15 through 17 dormitories?"

"Yes, I take it so are you?"

Harry nodded. "Yep. Come on, sit with me and I'll introduce you to everyone else so things aren't really awkward later."

Jake laughed and followed him inside. Inexplicably, he caught himself looking Harry over like he was a girl. He quickly looked down at his shoes, and consequently almost crashed into several people.

000

End chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: There were some misunderstandings about the time-frame of this, despite the answer being plainly in the summary/description. This is the summer between 5TH and 6TH year, which makes Harry _fifteen _right now. Sirius is dead, and he does have the scars from Umbridge; I just hadn't come to a point where I would bring them up yet.

CHAPTER 6

Dinner was jovial, and everyone seemed to like Jacob just fine, so he relaxed. He tried to strike up conversation with Harry the few times that he wasn't getting to know everyone else he would be sharing a dormitory with, but Harry was just as shy as he looked and often replied with non-answers or shrugs when he asked questions about his school and family.

Maybe he wasn't the only one around here with an unfriendly streak.

But once dinner was over and there was a loud scuffle of chairs being pushed back and noisy teenagers calling out to each other, Aleksey, the Russian, took his elbow and pulled him aside. They leaned against the wall as the sea of children moved past them, and the noise nearly drowned out Aleksey's rumbling voice.

"Do not misunderstand Harry, please. He is a good person, from what I know, but he doesn't like to be asked personal questions. They make him nervous."

Jake frowned, wondering what sort of reason Harry could possibly have for being so defensive of his private life. "Do…do you know why?"

Aleksey grinned. "Of course not! That would be a personal question, with a personal answer, yes?"

"Oh…right." It was disconcerting to talk to Aleksey, because he pronounced most of his 'w's as 'v's, and the way he said his 't's was just confusing. But the gist of what he was saying filtered through somehow.

His arm was patted with enough force to knock even him sideways. "I wouldn't worry about him. He is…well, I think that Harry is very tough. He has, how you say…scars. People must be strong enough to live through unhappy things to have scars like he does."

"That's a good point. What kind of scars does he have?"

There weren't many people still in the cafeteria, so Aleksey lead the way to the doors, through which Jake could see Anna, the redheaded girl that Aleksey seemed to be sort of dating.

"I have seen a couple so far, but some of them looked deep, and there is writing on his arm."

His eyebrows went up and he stopped walking altogether. Aleksey stopped as well and pivoted to look at him curiously.

"Ah, sorry, I was just confused by that last one you mentioned. Did you say that he had _writing _on his arm, in the form of a scar?"

Aleksey nodded casually, as if there wasn't anything even slightly extraordinary about someone having words carved into their arm. Harry was looking more interesting every moment, and a burning need to know about him, to simply _know _him was thick in his throat and his belly.

"Yes. The words said, 'I must not tell lies'. It was most unusual."

Jake was baffled for the rest of the evening, and very disappointed to find that Harry was no longer milling around with their group. An Asian boy, Hikaru or Hikari or something, said that he'd gone back to lie down since he wasn't feeling well or something.

Once they had to retire to their dormitory because of curfew, he saw that Harry was asleep in bed with a pillow over his face to block out the light.

000

Harry twisted in his sheets restlessly, the grip of his nightmare squeezing his self-control until it snapped and he shrieked, shooting upright faster than a speeding arrow. His eyes, crazed and blood-shot, raked the room for signs of the masked Death Eaters. He strained his ears for sounds of Bellatrix's crazed cackles, ample proof of her shattered mind.

But there was nothing but the snuffling and grunting of his sleeping dorm mates, and the soft creak of the bedsprings above his head as Aleksey rolled over in his sleep, murmuring Anna's name.

He flopped back onto his tense spine, and struggled to get his breathing under control once more. Still, as the minutes ticked by, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep: not after reliving it so vividly. All he could see when he closed his eyes was Sirius' face as he fell out of reach and out of his hopes for the future, many of which seemed empty and lightless now.

The creeping light glittering along the floor tiles, gleeful with itself for sneaking through the cracks in the blinds and under the door, of the staff lamps outside was all that he could see for the next period of time. He didn't know how much time passed- it could have been minutes, or hours.

Finally he couldn't bear to lie there, impotent against his wakefulness, and he wearily climbed out of bed. His body was exhausted, but his mind ran circles around it, filled with the desire to find some way of purging the bad memories.

It was against the rules, but he grew tired of pacing cautiously between the rows of empty beds and slipped out the doors. He was at a loss of where to go once he was outside, so he dithered for a little while on the steps, lost in thought.

Finally he decided to walk to Glenbrook and sit for a while, and maybe watch the stars curve their way across the night sky since the moon had already set.

The gravel crunched when he stepped onto it, so he switched to the grass that grew alongside, and admired the way that it stuck out between the gaps of his toes whenever he paused to look around and see if there was anybody who looked important lurking around just waiting to tattle on him to Aunt Marge.

He arrived at Glenbrook unobserved, as far as he was able to tell. He settled down onto a path of mossy ground beneath an oak tree and just stared out at the grounds, trusting the trunk's shadow to hide him if he needed coverage.

There was a sound behind him, like a subtle bending of the grass, and then his ears picked up a gentle intake of breath, and the subsequent sigh.

Every muscle stiffened, and he prepared for the worst. Who would it be, he wondered? Would it be one of the staff he'd already met, a man or a woman?

"Hi." Someone croaked, voice hoarse with nervousness, and Harry's eyes widened with surprise. That wasn't the voice of a man.

Slowly, cautious as a mouse before a subdued lion, he turned his head to regard his visitor. Standing there on the other side of the oak's powerful trunk was someone wearing pajamas with little checks on them, done in tartan red. Looking up, he recognized Jacob Black, whose last name made his heart contract.

"Hi." He whispered it this time, reverently.

"Hello." Harry replied after a beat or two of tense silence, and politely patted the moss beside him. "Why don't you sit down?"

"Thanks." Jake slid down the trunk and stretched his long legs out in front him. He shivered when a stray wisp of cold wind blew through the field, raising goose bumps on his bare arms. He was starting to regret not putting something over his thin undershirt, warm as his blood was. Something about Harry just made him all shivery.

Harry didn't speak, staring up at the stars through the canopy of leaves reaching over their heads. He tapped his left foot slowly, to the beat of some unheard rhythm.

Jacob stared at his foot. It was bare, and as pale as the rest of him, in stark contrast to his own red-brown skinned foot resting just a foot away, curling its toes into the ground. The arch of it was graceful, like a ballet dancer, and his toes were short and square and perfectly ranged from biggest to smallest.

He bit his lip when Harry curled his foot into a tight, bunched arc of bone and supple tendon before stretching it out again and resuming his tapping rhythm. Maybe he should try to make conversation, before he did something embarrassing like lean over and grab his foot to look at it closer, and maybe kiss it?

"So…."

Dammit! Why was it that he could never find anything clever to say when he needed to? He didn't want Harry to think he was an idiot, although he did wonder why he cared what this strange boy thought of him. Even his pajamas were too big, and the neck of his shirt was so stretched out from wear that it was sliding to the side and…and…

His eyes fixed on the triangle of illuminated skin leading to the cusp of his shoulder, which was still covered by the thin t-shirt fabric. He swallowed thickly and tried to look at something else, anything else, because his thoughts were scaring him now. What was going on with his head? Harry was a _boy, _and a boy that he didn't even know very well!

"So what?" Harry probed a minute later, when it was clear that Jacob wasn't going to continue whatever it was that he was about to say.

Jake yanked the wandering pieces of his psyche back to his chest by their collars and cleared his throat to stall for more time to collect himself. "So what are you doing out here? It's kind of cold."

"I don't mind the cold." Harry's voice was soft, soft as the wind, and he picked restlessly at a weed growing beneath a tree root near his elbow, pulling it free and tossing it away. "I couldn't sleep. I thought that some fresh air would help me calm down, and a little exercise couldn't hurt either. What's your excuse?"

Before he could think of a suitable lie, he blurted the truth. "I was following you."

Harry finally looked away from the stars to raise his eyebrows. A mocking hint of a smile curved one side of his mouth upwards, which made him look like a mobster.

"Oh really? Why? I don't know you."

"That's just it." Once again, his mouth was running away, leaving a bright yellow trail of truth. It was clearly enjoying embarrassing him to the fullest of its ability. "I _want _to know you, so I followed you."

He hummed and looked back at the stars. "Why?"

"I don't know." He muttered petulantly, drawing his legs up and plucking at his pant leg. "I don't normally decide to learn how some stranger's mind works by following them in the dark."

Harry laughed, sounding surprised even as he did so, like he hadn't been expecting to find that funny. "I'm glad to hear it. That simultaneously makes you look like less of a creep and boost my vanity."

Jake grinned, eyes glinting in the dim light as the stars reflected off the glassy surfaces of his pupils. He leaned in as close as he dared, inadvertently inhaling Harry's personal scent, and mimicked the gangsters that he saw in Godfather movies. "Good. Flattered people tend to divulge more about themselves."

This was responded to by another little peal of laughter, and Harry covered his mouth to try and muffle it, lest they were caught.

"Oh god, you kill me. Okay, okay, as a reward for getting me to finally calm down, I will answer a few questions." He sat silently, looking at Jake expectantly as the Indian's mind raced to think up some good but not too probing questions. He didn't want to drive Harry away so soon, not when he was as skittish as a rabbit. "Well, aren't you going to take out a little reporter's notepad and ask me a list of carefully designed questions meant to befuddle even a genius?"

"I left that back in my suit case. Sorry." Jake informed him gravely. "However, I'm not too old and confused to ask you a couple of questions from memory."

"Okay, shoot." Harry scooted his body around so that he was facing Jake, and folded his legs under him.

"What's your family like?"

Harry sighed. "I was afraid of that one. Listen, I know that I kind of blew you off at dinner, but the truth is that I don't like to talk about them with new friends if I don't have to, because it's kind of depressing and more than a little creepy."

That definitely piqued Jake's interest. "Well, what if I promise not to scream?"

This made Harry smile, although it was quick and disappeared in a flash. "It's your funeral. My parents were murdered by a serial killer when I was barely a year old, and I ended up getting raised by my mum's sister. She hated my mum because she was prettier and smarter than her and now she hates me and made her husband and my cousin hate me as well." he looked down, and then back up again. The ghost pain in his expression made Jacob want to hold him, but he stomped on that girly urge as quickly as it bloomed in his heart. "Needless to say, things aren't all rainbows shooting out of Unicorn's asses."

Jake tried to stop it, but he snorted at Harry's last comment despite himself. Harry grinned at him, the clouds clearing from behind his eyes. A shaft of uncommonly bright starlight broke through the canopy of leaves and illuminated his right arm, the same one that he'd glimpsed the ugly scar on at lunch that day. The peculiar light drew attention to something that the angle of the fluorescent lights had hidden last time.

Written in jagged chicken-scratch handwriting across his arm, over and over again in crooked rows, were the words, 'I must not tell lies'.

Unfortunately, Harry saw where he was looking and slapped his hand over his arm, hiding the marks from view. He stood stiffly and began to walk quickly back to their dormitory, calling out a jilted, "good-night!" over his shoulder.

Left alone under the oak tree, Jacob's shoulders sagged miserably. He knew that there was something very weird going on with his feelings.

000

End chapter 6.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: By the way, somebody was pissed that Meredith and June aren't named something more German. My reply is that I actually know some German people, not to mention that I am personally of German-English-Swedish descent, and I can tell you that just because you live in Germany does not mean that your name will be Klaus or Enka (huffs).

I don't mean to be a bitch, but that's how it is.

CHAPTER 7

Mail was passed out at breakfast, and Jake was startled out of his sleepy sulk when "Black, Jacob" was called over the megaphone. He'd decided to sit separately from his dorm mates when Meredith invited him to sit with her and June, and none of them seemed to be upset about him ditching them for a couple of girls. In fact, he'd got far more waggled eyebrows than scowls.

He got up slowly and walked to the desk at the back of the room where the mail was sorted alphabetically into crates. His heavy footsteps were drowned out by the sounds of other names being called, and he heaved a fatigued sigh by the time he reached the lady behind the desk. She smiled thinly at him, out of obligation rather than any real emotional desire, and handed him an envelope and a postcard.

Flipping over the postcard on his way back, he saw that it was one of those personalized tourist photographs, and it was a picture of Bella, Edward, and Alice standing with their arms around each other in front of the Louvre. Edward was kissing the side of Bella's head, his grip as white-knuckled around her waist.

He turned it over to read the back. In blue ink, she'd written,

_Jacob,_

_Paris is gorgeous, and I just wanted to let you know that I am having a great time and that I'm safe and well-cared for, in case my dad was asking you anything about me. He still thinks that I'll tell you more than I tell him. Edward and Alice both say 'hi'. I hope that you don't miss me too much!_

_-Bella Swan_

She'd even drawn a little smiley face sticking its tongue out in a spare section of the paper board, between the address and the message.

He sat down as clumsily as a puppet with an amateur master between the girls, picked up his glass, and sighed into his milk.

"Bad news?" June asked from his left. True to his suspicions, she barely ate anything for meals. There was a triangle of toast and a half-finished fruit cup, the nasty kind preserved in sugary syrup, littering her tray. The sun illuminated one of her skinny arms, and he grinned at the acute angle of her bony elbow.

"What are you smiling about?" Meredith demanded in her sugar-heavy voice, turning her attention away from her sausage long enough to look at him assessingly. "You shouldn't look like a sick dog one moment and then like a kid with a lollipop the next- it's very confusing."

He widened his smile to almost painful proportions just to see her get irritated, and was rewarded by a sharp narrowing of her eyes.

"Now, you look here, sonny boy-"

He held up his hands in peace. "Hey, smiling isn't a crime in my country, Swiss Miss."

She scowled. "I am from _Germany, _you lousy-"

"If you're about to make some kind of remark about my pant size, I can assure you that you will be mistaken." Jake cut her off, and choked on his laugh when she punched him playfully in the stomach. That hurt! June's delicate bone structure often made him forget that her cousin was made of steel, or at least her knuckle bones were.

June leaned over and tapped him on the shoulder as he wheezed. Turning, he saw that she was holding the post card between two fingers. "So, this is Bella Swan."

"Did you just read my mail?" he snapped, irritated in spite of how much he was starting to like her as a person. "Because that is kind of illegal."

Her expression became stormy and she slapped his mail down, picture-side up deliberately. "Of course I didn't read it! It was just a lucky guess. Now, if you're going to be an asshole today, I am leaving right now." she stood, grabbed her tray, and stalked off.

When he looked at Meredith, she was frowning after her cousin. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and tucked it back into her hair clip, stretched her neck, and went back to eating breakfast as though nothing happened.

"Um…Meredith?"

"Hm?" She looked up from her fried egg, a piece of it stuck to the corner of her mouth, and she flicked her tongue out and swallowed it without a second thought. "What's the matter with you this time? I swear to god, you put my mother's menopause to shame."

He snickered, and then got his mind back on track. "Why did June get so upset like that?"

Her eyebrows rose, and then she shook her head with something like pity hovering around her manner like bees around sugar. "You thought that what you just saw was 'upset' by June standards? You're in for a big surprise. June might look like a piece of milk toast, but she's got a real temper on her. Just ignore it- she'll be all smiles in half an hour if you leave her alone to sort herself out."

"Oh."

"I'm guessing that you don't have any sisters?" Meredith hazarded a guess, offering him a piece of her toast. He accepted and shoved the whole thing into his mouth at once.

When he'd finished swallowing it, he replied, "That's right, and I haven't had my mom around in years either. I mean, I know Bella pretty well, or I thought I did, and she might forget to treat me like a human being but she's never been so bitchy."

Meredith nodded knowingly. "That explains it. You need more exposure to the mysterious creatures that are women, Jake. There's more to us than nice hair, giggles, and tits."

"Hey, I never said-"

"Yeah, I know." She cut him off. "But that seems to be all there is to this Bella girl, and she's the main woman in your life. I for one like to run around with the lads and get my hands dirty, and June lives to gossip about other people. However, that doesn't tell you anything about what kind of people we are when nobody is around, or how we feel about giving everything we have to people that own nothing."

Jacob's eyebrows drew together. "So, what you're trying to say is that…you're not defined by what you look like or what your hobbies are?"

An ear-splitting grin spread across her face. "That's exactly what I'm saying. You catch on quick. The sooner you realize that girls are just people, the same as men, the better. We aren't any simpler than you are." She chucked his chin, and stuffed the last of her eggs into her mouth. "Come on, let's go find something to do while we wait for June to stop feeling like a hurricane in a closet."

000

Swimming didn't go as smoothly as he'd hoped. He was so distracted by his unfortunate early-morning conversation with Jacob that he almost drowned doing the butterfly stroke.

Aleksey, who was also taking swimming because he liked the water, rescued him and pounded his back vigorously on the dock until he'd hacked up every single drop of moisture in his lungs.

"Ugh, you can stop now!" Harry protested, trying to squirm away from his friend's over-zealous ministrations. He stopped slapping his back and instead rubbed a few quick circles with his palm across his neck until Harry went boneless and the stabbing pains in his esophagus faded.

"You feel better now?" Aleksey asked, leaning close and obviously concerned. "You were swimming very well before you started to sink."

He muttered something in reply, and Aleksey frowned.

"I wish that you would trust me more."

Harry looked up, intending to apologize, but Aleksey was already walking to the edge of the dock. He dove gracefully back into the man-made lake and disappeared under the water. Their coach came closer, leaving the confused fifteen-year-old who couldn't seem to pin down the dog-paddle to his own devices.

"Are you okay kid?"

He nodded distractedly. "Yeah, thanks. I think that I'll rest for a little while longer, though, if that's alright with you."

"Of course it's alright. Oh, and you're a great swimmer, a real natural."

Harry blushed with pleasure. He got honest compliments so rarely that it was like being handed a large cake by a stranger- you didn't know what to do or say. "Um, thank you."

He smiled quickly and then walked back to his 'problem student'.

"Okay, Kyle, let's try this again…"

000

Jake and Harry ended up next to each other in the lunch line, and Harry looked down as soon as he noticed this.

Biting his lip, Jake sidled closer and gently touched Harry's arm. His fingers landed on his bare skin, and his eyes wavered as if in a heat mirage. He drew his hand away as quickly as he would from a burning stove burner.

Harry looked up slowly, eyes guarded. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry if I upset you somehow last night." Jake babbled at the speed of light, and then turned bright red.

He rolled his eyes and took a tray. It was red, and warm from the dishwasher. "You didn't do anything, but you're forgiven anyway. I just got cold and wanted to go back to the dorm."

Jake frowned at his back as Harry served himself some chowder. He was outright lying, but he was scared to call him on it for fear of what sort of reaction that might garner. He wanted to get to know Harry better, not alienate him.

"Hey, listen, did you want to go do something after activities this afternoon?"

Harry met his eyes over the salad bar. "Actually, I already have something planned with someone else."

Was his imagination just desperate, or did he sound a little disappointed that he was already occupied? Jake's heart gave a little skip even as it walked down towards its new haunt of light depression.

"Oh yeah? With who? Do I know them? Maybe I could come along."

Harry shook his head. "You can't. I'm meeting with the camp therapist."

"Oh."

Well. That put a new spin on things.

"Why?" That question was likely to get him a dirty look, but it jumped out of his mouth before he could stop it.

Harry shrugged and heaped sliced cucumbers on top of his lettuce. "I like her, and she's helping me work through some issues. Maybe we can do something after dinner?"

He could be flexible. "Sure thing. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

The brunette laughed at this, and made sure to get a set of silverware before heading for their table, with Jake hot on his heels like an enthusiastic puppy. "That's true, although this does mean that there's nowhere to run."

"That's kind of creepy to think about." Jake sat down next to him, and saw that the Russian and his girlfriend were sitting on the other side of the table, quietly discussing an open political magazine written in some Slavic language.

"I think about lots of creepy things." Harry coolly took a bite of salad and smiled a funny little smile, like the ones his dad used to give when Jake did something that his mother used to do. "You could say that my nature is, essentially, 'creepy', if by creepy you mean paranoid."

He forced a laugh. "It's not like we have anything to be afraid of."

Harry sighed a little and started on his soup. "if you say so."

Jake straightened. "What do you mean by that?"

"Only that you can't be sure of something like that. For all we know, a meteor could crash into the earth out of nowhere and kill everybody, or a nuclear war could break out overnight and we'd all wake up with radiation poisoning and the new life-view of kill or be killed."

"God, you really are paranoid." Jake said after a strained moment of silence, during which the clatter and chatter of lunching children surrounded them and went on as if nothing interesting or unusual had just happened.

Harry shrugged again, breaking the moment. "I guess so."

Jake was left to wonder, once again, what Harry Potter was really hiding under all his layers of intimidation.

000

End chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Jake had his own reasons for not talking about his sisters, and since I like spoiling things, I'll just tell you why. It was because he wanted to trick Meredith into being completely candid with him, which she wouldn't have been if she already knew that he had sisters. Confusing, I know.

CHAPTER 8

Halfway through his 12th chin-up in the gymnasium, Jake remembered the other piece of mail, the envelope that he'd carelessly tossed onto his bed with his post card after lunch.

He finished his 20 chin-ups before he went to read it.

A boy from India with ear-buds sticking out of his ears, barely fifteen and small for his age, smiled wanly at him from his bunk when their eyes met, and Jake nodded out of obligation. They called him the Baby of their group, and took especial pleasure out of messing up his hair and fawning over him when girls were around to embarrass him.

They also called him Baby because nobody could pronounce his first name.

The letter was right where he'd left it, obscured partially by the goddamn missive from Bella. As he tossed it aside, he noted that it'd been stamped to show that she'd sent it through the expensive urgent/emergency mail system, which is why he had it now and not next week. He shook his head. That must have been Edward's doing.

It was from his dad. He frowned and tried to slit it open with his fingernail, but it was too short so he had to bite one of the corners and tear the side with his teeth. Baby chuckled at him from his bunk, and Jake flipped him the bird without looking to see his reaction.

Written in his dad's stocky print, it was short and to the point. He'd had an accident, losing his balance in his chair and taking a short spill. He would have been unharmed by the incident if it hadn't been in the shed and he hadn't landed on a rusty nail, which then proceeded to get him infected because he didn't realize the injury at first.

Billy told him not to worry, and to stay right where he was. Judging by the date thoughtfully scribbled in the top right corner, the incident had happened shortly after he arrived here. His dad also said to not waste postage writing back.

"Shit…"

The hospital bills for this were going to put some unneeded strain on their family, and this was the last thing his sisters needed to be worrying about. Hell, they freaked out if they heard that he'd scraped his knee, so they would be going crazy over this.

"Is everything okay?" Baby got off of his bunk, pulling out his ear buds and approaching. "I heard you curse."

He waved a hand, trying to look calm. "Yeah, it's nothing serious. My dad just got a little infection and is at the hospital having it seen to."

"Oh. Okay." Baby nodded and went back to his bunk, knowing to leave well enough alone.

The envelope seemed so flimsy to be carrying as much worry and foreboding for the future as it did. He clenched his fist around it, crumpling the paper into a little ball, and the sharp corners of it pricked feebly at his palms and fingertips.

How was he supposed to while the rest of the afternoon away before dinner reunited him with Harry when he was this worked up?

He sighed explosively, like an old-fashioned steamer barge, and got slowly to his feet. The gymnasium beckoned him seductively with invisible arms, inviting him to bleed his worries out with his sweat.

Baby murmured goodbye once the door closed, and shuffled to the next song on his playlist.

000

Doris was smoking when he knocked on the door, and he could see her guiltily stubbing out the cancer stick into an ashtray before she kicked the rotund object under the couch, hiding it from view in the shadows and dust bunnies there.

"Come in!"

He came, and immediately headed for the floor, settling cross-legged before her like a supplicant.

"Oh, hello again, Harry. I almost didn't expect for you to show up again." She laughed like a brook, and he picked up the husky undertone of a smoker that'd escaped his notice previously. "Hey now," she admonished, noticing his scrutiny. "What's the matter? Why are you looking at me like that for? What have I done?"

"You smoke." He stated.

She laughed nervously. "If you can smell smoke, it's just because the cleaning crew has only just been here and that filthy Polish woman smokes like nobody's business."

"You're an authority figure, set up to be an example for young kids, and you _smoke."_

Her eyes narrowed and she defiantly reached under the sofa, re-introducing the ash tray to sunlight. "Fine, I smoke. It's not like I'm going to do it in front of you and give you second-hand smoke. I don't see why you care."

Harry shrugged, dropping his sham seriousness. "I actually don't give a shit whether you smoke or not, and I don't mind you smoking in front of me either. I just wanted to see you squirm like that." He grinned evilly. "It was very entertaining watching you do that little dance on your sofa."

She scowled and lightly kicked him with one bare foot. Her toes were painted candy-apple red and glittered in the sunlight. "You're awfully young to be such a bastard, sugar."

He shrugged again, got to his knees, and shuffled that way close enough to wrap his arms around her waist and bury his face in the folds of her loose skirt that fanned around her hips. "Sorry." His apology was muffled by her skirts.

Doris patted his head and reclined against the back of the sofa. The ash tray was set reverently on the crowded table next to her elbow. She pulled a packet of cigarettes, in a bright blue casing, out of her bra and tapped one out, lighting it with a match from the envelope tucked like a bookmark between the pages of Karl Marx's _Communist Manifesto._

All of this he watched with the fascination of a small child, his eyes flicking from the glowing ashes forming at the tip of the stick to the smoke that she exhaled from her nostrils like a Chinese dragon of myth.

She felt his interest and smiled fondly down at him. Her fingers curled affectionately through his hair, stroking it with the precision of a comb from scalp to the very tips of his wayward locks.

"How are you today?"

"Good. I played 'hard-to-get' with Jacob today." He chirped enthusiastically, snuffling back into her skirts a second later.

"And how did you do that, my little duck?"

Harry laughed into her warm hip. "I told him that I was meeting someone in the afternoon, and he rearranged his plans so that we would spend time together tonight instead. Does that mean anything?"

"Of course it does." She flicked ash into her tray and reached down to scratch her bare calf. "It means that he likes you enough to take what he can get. But I'd be careful, Harry. A heart isn't a toy, and playing with them can become a habit before you know what's what."

He snorted. "What does a heart have to do with this?"

"Everything." She answered gravely, scraping her nails warningly across the tender back of his neck. "He likes you, and I think that you like him. How could that be separate from what your heart wants? It isn't the mind's business to decide what sort of people that you get along with."

"But…"

"But nothing." Doris stubbed out her cigarette. "Now, you are going to change your clothes and comb your hair before you go to dinner, so that you look nice."

"Why?" Harry sulkily asked. "He wants to talk to me, not take me somewhere fancy. This isn't a date…is it?"

"It's courteous to show that you care enough about someone to scrub up before you off somewhere. It shows that this isn't just another chore for you, but a special event." She huffed. "Come on, every girl knows that. Why didn't anyone tell the boys?"

She hadn't answered his question, and he knew that it was because she wanted him to answer it himself.

They spent the rest of the afternoon dozing and chatting about inconsequential things like staff gossip, through which Harry learned far more about the personal lives of adults than he ever wanted to, and the latest corrupt politician.

000

Jake sat across from Harry at dinner. He tried not to notice that Harry changed his clothes before eating, because then he would ask why before he could stop himself, and he might not like the answer. After all, there are normal reasons for a teenaged boy to change his clothes and more personal reasons, reasons that tend to surface when large groups of teens are camped together and can find opportunities to sneak off together.

Harry still looked very nice, though, because these clothes fit him much better than all of his other outfits to date. He hadn't realized how slim Harry was until now, even as his shirt hung sack-like over his ribs, pooling around his hips and hiding any definitive shape.

Neither of them spoke to each other throughout the entire meal. Jake talked to June, who'd forgiven him, and to Meredith, to whom he confessed lying about having no sisters. She yelled, outraged, and hit him a couple of times but she got over it and grudgingly accepted his peace offering.

Apparently, chocolate pudding could get you anywhere.

Harry didn't talk to anyone, though Aleksey silently communicated with him through dinner. They traded vegetables, Harry's carrots for Aleksey's Brussels sprouts.

Afterwards, when June dragged Meredith off to see if there really was an owl in the pet house, which made Harry laugh, they left together. Standing outside, to the side so that they wouldn't block the exit, Harry suggested that they track down the recreation room because there were supposedly couches in it and some games.

There were indeed couches, three of them, ranged along the walls. A noisy group of boys from the 18-19 age group were playing pool, or trying to, but they got bored with the complexities of the game and left to reportedly find some girls to make trouble with.

Harry claimed a sofa and sat upright for a few minutes before slouching back into it. Jacob chose one of the easy chairs, since sitting next to Harry seemed too…

He couldn't say why, exactly, sitting next to Harry would make him nervous, but that didn't detract from the butterflies running amok in his intestines.

Still, they didn't speak, and he sat in his chair while Harry sat on his sofa and they didn't look at each other. Something mechanical whirred softly in the background, and the ghostly sounds of laughing teenagers running around and speaking in fifty different languages soaked through the walls intermittently. Nobody came into the recreation room, and they could catch snippets of what was a mass game of capture the flag being played by almost everyone at once.

The room became heavy with the trapped air, and he felt himself dozing off a little here and there, always starting to wakefulness when he became truly comfortable. The chair oozed sleep and tried to bury him with it.

Finally, Jake couldn't bear the quiet anymore. He had to talk to Harry, to find out more about him and satisfy the beast salivating in his heart to know every microscopic detail of what went on in Harry's lift. He still didn't know stupid things like what his favorite colors were or if he liked movies.

Because Harry was looking at his hands thoughtfully, Jake asked him what he was thinking about.

"Oh, you won't want to hear it." Harry brushed his question away, but Jake persisted so he sighed and said,

"I was thinking about how we are all born, which we have no choice in, and then we all die, which most of us don't have a choice in the circumstances that precede it. Some of us can choose to jump out of the game early, but you still have to die one way or another. Everyone knows this, and most of the time it's important but not urgent. We don't think about it." Harry rolled onto his back on the sofa's creaky cushions, taking a look at the ceiling. It was uninspiring and militant all at once, the gray tiles screaming their color defensively. His voice was hollow, and it sent shivers down his spine to listen to him speak so calmly about this. "But sometimes you wake up and realize that everything you've ever done is just one more grain of sand in an hourglass that gets a little emptier every day, and it's unbearable."

Jake stood so suddenly that the easy chair rocked back and threatened to topple onto its side, the flimsy wooden supports buried beneath all that foam padding seasick and unsteady.

"Why are you like this?" He demanded, voice cracking like a whip through the sleepy mood that fogged the room, making his head swim. It was too hot in here; someone should turn on the fans or the air conditioning.

"Like what?" The steely tone that Harry's voice took on only aggravated Jake's turmoil.

Jacob waved his hands all along Harry's shape in exasperation from his side of the room, vainly trying to physically point out what was wrong. "You know what I mean! Why won't you just cheer up for once? Whenever you're depressed, I can always tell! You wear your feelings in plain sight."

He didn't answer at first, curling back into the sofa, picking at his foot. "I don't understand why I shouldn't." His eyes rose and pinned Jacob where he stood, cold stone floor chilling him even through the carpet that covered it thickly. "If I am troubled, why should I pretend that I'm not? What good would that accomplish, when I know and others can tell that I'm not alright? People aren't blind. We can tell when something's wrong."

"That doesn't justify drawing attention to it, and ruining everyone else's good time!"

Harry looked at him silently, got off his couch, and stood there simply looking at him. Finally, he asked, "Are you trying to say that you're not having a good time?"

He panicked. "No! I mean-"

"Because if you need me to apply a mask whenever I'm with you, to follow the unspoken rule that we must keep any real emotions under wraps at all times, then you can just say goodbye right now. I won't hide who I am from you, and I'd appreciate it if you returned the favor." Harry sat back down, and tucked his feet under himself. "I make friends with people, not facades. We're past the polite introductions. We can relax and be honest now."

"I…"

The loud sounds of the siren blaring out that it was time for everyone to return to their dormitories sounded, and Harry shuffled to his feet. He waited for Jake to collect himself before heading towards the door. When he opened it, the cool evening air hit him like a jar of smelling salts.

Harry smiled and started to walk across the grass.

000

End chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Harry got into bed, and looked over his shoulder at Jacob. He was sitting bolt upright in his bed and staring at him, looking confused but almost pleased. Harry smiled and mouthed goodnight.

Jake jolted, surprised at being caught in the act, and hurriedly lay down.

Smiling privately to himself, Harry rolled over and fell asleep. He'd just realized that almost every plan he'd ever made for the future in which he didn't get killed before he turned eighteen was completely irrelevant now.

In all of those plans, he'd settled down with some nice girl, alternately Hermione, Cho, or even Ginny, depending on his mood, and started a family of his own. Those plans were now obsolete and impossible because he wasn't interested in settling down with a girl anymore, or even settling at all.

But he wasn't going to tell Jake how he felt. Jake still looked at girls, so claiming to have more-than-friendly feelings for him probably wouldn't be the best idea. He would have to hide this feeling deep inside, and love him slowly and carefully and cunningly.

000

When he woke up, Jake spent half an hour staring at the ceiling. He normally showered in this time, but his body didn't want to move just yet since the command center was spinning faster than the speed of light. He was thinking so fast that he didn't even know what he was thinking about anymore, except that it had something to do with Harry.

He finally climbed down the little ladder built into the side of the bunk and washed his face before throwing some clothes on. He was the last to leave their dormitory, not that he noticed. It felt like his body was moving as stiffly as a robot, one metallic fist clenched around a flimsy string, at the other end of which was tied his consciousness.

It was very disorienting, and when he sat down to breakfast, he noticed that he'd piled his food like a pyramid, with potatoes on the bottom, bacon in the middle, and eggs on top. He'd also put liberal spoonfuls of jelly on it, which was seeping the flavor of artificial grape into his eggs and turning them green.

He made a face, and avoided eating anything that the jelly touched.

Harry was sitting two seats to his left, with Meredith and June between them. Baby was talking to June around him, which was slightly offensive since Baby kept blocking his elbow when he tried to pick up his fork, but a few well-placed jabs with aforementioned elbow soon solved that issue and he finished breakfast in peace.

With food in stomach, everything became much clearer. He peeked over the girl's heads, and found that Harry was already looking at him. Harry gave him a conniving wink and took a sip of coffee.

He swallowed, and looked down at his plate. It made him feel kind of nauseous, with the riot of color and grease, so he got up and disposed of it before he threw up.

When he came back, Harry was gone.

000

English was not nearly as boring as he'd feared that it would be, although he was very nervous about their end assignment. For some sick reason, it was to write and recite a poem in front of the whole class. Admittedly, there were only 8 kids in the class total, and none of them were his dorm mates, but the point stood.

He didn't know the first thing about poetry! He'd never had a yearning to express whatever frustrations he might have had through verse. On the contrary, he usually went looking for something to beat at with his fists.

The assignment blinked, as lazy as a sheep's eye, up at him from the neatly copy-printed sheet of paper, identical to that of the other student's sheets except for his name hand-written at the top in blue ink. But he could feel the quiet menace of it, a thousand times more terrifying than the unfinished Potion's homework in his trunk, the last of his Hogwarts summer assignments.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic!" His professor scolded, looking up once all of the other students had already left and finding one young man still standing there like a bewildered cow who'd encountered artificial grass. "Come now, it's not that bad. It's just poetry."

"I don't care." Harry whispered, tightening his fists and crumpling the edges of the sheet slightly. "That's not the point."

"Then what is the point?" Mr. Wilkins was a small, compact little man who could probably contort himself to fit into a large carpet bag as a party trick. He'd been an English Professor in one capacity or another for almost fifteen years, and he'd seen many a teenaged boy thrown by poetry. Why were young men trained to hold something as human as emotional expression with either disgust or fear? He couldn't see much disgust in Potter's face as he looked down at the requirement, but you shouldn't assume that just because you couldn't see something that it wasn't there at all.

"The point is that this is like asking me to fly, Mr. Williams."

"It's Wilkins." He corrected absently, flipping through some papers on his desk impatiently. He wanted to go have his tea break now, not stand here dithering with some student, but pity kept him stranded where he was.

"Oh, sorry." Potter flushed. "I could have sworn…well, it's no matter. I can't do the assignment. I'd like you to give me something else, just as long as it's not this."

"No."

Potter looked up quickly, as though he was expecting that but didn't want to believe it just yet. "No?"

"No. The point of the assignment is to expose students to a new, and very unique, writing experience. It doesn't have to be brilliant or win a prize, Potter, it just has to be genuine. You can pick any verse form you like, but I won't deprive you of this experience."

"Fine." Potter nodded, the true defeat darkening his words. "I'll let you go have some air now."

And with that, he left and went one way, presumably to Wood Carving, while Mr. Wilkins went the other.

000

One of Jacob's sisters called, Rebecca, and told him that their dad was getting worse and had to stay in the hospital. He'd had a bad allergic reaction to one of the medications that they'd used and was now being kept for observation indefinitely.

"Jesus, are you serious?"

"Don't curse!" She snapped. "It makes you sound like trash. If you want to be respected, you'll talk like a respectable person."

Jake groaned and leaned heavily against the wall. "Okay, okay, sorry. Sheesh. How are you, besides this thing with dad? It's been forever since you've called."

"I know." He could hear her sigh. "I miss you, kid."

He grinned slyly. "You didn't answer the question. How are you?"

"Ugh, I'm…I'm okay."

"Really?" He knelt, stretching out the coiled plastic cord, and poured himself a cup of water from the dispenser. "I asked because, although I'm not an expert, you don't _sound _okay to me."

"Shut up, punk. You don't know what you're talking about- everything is just peachy, even though the only thing in my fridge is milk and the only food in my stomach is old pickles and these cheerios that I'm eating."

"God, now _my _stomach hurts!"

She cackled. "Good, that serves you right. Speaking of food how is the nourishment at that fine establishment in which you reside?"

"Wow, I'm impressed. So many big words!" Jacob sarcastically praised her, sipping his water. He spat it back out into the cup when a colorful stream of words, all of them long, crackled across the telephone line. He was scarred for life. He didn't even know what cunnilingus meant, but he hoped that he never did.

He shuddered, and tossed his cup of soiled water into the nearest trash can. The man behind the desk didn't even look up, faint pulsing beats stealing out of his headphones. He had a beard, and it was the nasty kind, not the kind that looks classy and like something from a Jane Austen film (which his sisters used to torture him with).

There was silence on the other line.

"Becky? Are you still there?" He asked curiously, looking at the telephone.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Hey, can you…um…not tell dad that I said all of those things?"

She sounded miserable enough to be willing to go to great lengths to ensure that he kept his mouth shut, so he cocked his hip and slowly asked, "What will you give me if I keep the dirty little secret of your incredible potty mouth?"

"Did you just say 'potty'?"

He blushed. Damn it! Somehow, childish words still crept into his vocabulary despite all of his attempts to sound less lame. "Shut up. Focus, Becky. What kind of bribes are we talking about here?"

"None."

He laughed mockingly. "Oh really? Please, I don't like you enough to keep quiet about this all by the power of my honorable character. I'm still upset about that thing that you did with the Christmas tree last year in front of my friends. They still tease me about that."

"Oh, boo-hoo. Can you imagine the ribbing that you'd have to endure if I leaked those candid pictures I snapped of you trying on my make-up?"

Jacob spluttered. "I was a little kid! I didn't understand what I was doing to my manly dignity at the time. I can't be held accountable for my actions."

"Jake, you were _fourteen."_

"Fine. I'll be quiet."

"You're sulking. I can hear it all the way through the phone." Rebecca laughed at him, and then he could hear the crunching sounds of her eating cheerios. "Well, this has been fun. I bet that you don't miss me anymore."

"Damn straight." Jake shuddered violently, suppressed memories, each more horrifying than the last, rising like sewage in a stopped-up toilet. Memories of being cornered and beaten half-to-death with pillows by twin demons, memories of mud-pies shoved down his throat, memories of being forced into their old clothes and made to pose as a doll, and memories of eating all kinds of weird food as his sisters taught themselves how to cook.

"Bye, sweetie." And for a moment, she sounded like an absolute sweetheart. "I love you, little brother."

He swallowed the memories, all of which had made him wonder if his sisters really loved him or simply kept him around because he was entertaining and they couldn't transfer to a different family. "I love you too. Bye."

"Bye."

She hung up, and so did he.

000

A man, although you wouldn't have known it to look at him, scuttled from garbage heap to garbage heap, eating whatever he could find that wasn't too rife with disease. To the naked eye, he looked like a rat.

This was a man-rat with more than one purpose in life, although right now that purpose was simply to satisfy his empty stomach. The rat-man's other purpose was to find somebody. This somebody was important, and needed to be found so that other people, not friends but colleagues, of the rat-man could know where he was.

Somebody had thrown away almost an entire hamburger, still in its foil wrapper and oozing warm ketchup.

The beady eyes looked one way and the other, discerning that it really was alone. And then the rat-man became simply a man, and sat down on a pile of old fabric bolts, too moth-eaten for anybody to want them, and enjoyed the simple pleasure of food.

000

End chapter 9

Shorter than usual, I know. But I'm tired! And menstruating!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry for not updating for a while. Updates might be a little erratic- I'm sick.

CHAPTER 10

A pair of weeks floated by, each day standing like just one of a multitude of sunbeams on a clear day, separate but united into one mass of time. Harry kept up his daily visits to Doris in the afternoons, and spent his evenings with Jacob, either in silence or playing a game of some kind. Some nights they just walked the grounds until they had to go to their dormitory, and their other friends made no effort to interfere.

They didn't talk very much at all, and Jacob hadn't yelled at him again. He'd been very apologetic about it, but Harry was too used to Hermione's hormones and Ron's mood swings to consider it more than a hiccup.

It was now just a little more than five weeks until Harry would have to leave camp for Hogwarts, and the problem of procuring the appropriate school supplies once the letter containing the pertinent information arrived presented itself.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, staring out the window and drowning out his English teacher. He also had one more day to agonize over the blank sheet of paper that was his poetry assignment before he was supposed to read something that he hadn't written tomorrow afternoon.

Hermione would be the easiest person to reason with, and she would have enough funds to buy his supplies for him and not be bankrupted until they reunited at the train station, where he could pay her back somehow. But…then he would have to get to Gringotts between going home to the Dursley's and going to the train station, and right now that window of time was looking very narrow. Damn it all!

"Is something the matter, Mr. Potter?" Mr. Wilkin's voice couldn't have been more menacing if he'd been holding a machete to Harry's throat.

He jumped, and realized that he must have sworn out loud. "Shit! I mean, uh, no."

The fussy little eyebrows drew together and, as one, lowered until they disappeared behind the rim of his spectacles. He adjusted them and snapped, "Step outside with me, Mr. Potter. Everyone else review your projects for tomorrow until I come back."

Almost scared of the little whirlwind that Mr. Wilkins had suddenly transformed into, Harry stepped obediently outside and waited on the steps until his Professor was standing uncomfortably close, vibrating with fury.

"First you refuse to see the value of your assignment, then you prove yourself to be an intelligent student utterly lacking in motivation, and now this! You haven't paid a moment's attention to today's lesson! I slave over these courses, _slave over them, _Mr. Potter, and it is very hurtful for me to know that you obviously don't care a mite about that." He said all of this in a rush of breath, the words running together and turning into one single mush of fury that settled in Harry's mind and oppressed his mood into something very dark gray.

Harry sagged. "I'm sorry, sir. I just didn't sleep well last night. I almost cut my finger off in Wood Carving earlier today too, so it's not just your class that has my mind wandering. I didn't mean it personally."

Mr. Wilkins took a deep breath and nodded shakily. "Fine, you are dismissed for the rest of this session; you should see the nurse. I will have the work for you to do tomorrow if you care to stop by and pick it up before the reading." A nasty little smile curved his thin lips. "I am very interested to hear your contribution to our poetry collection."

And with that veiled threat hanging in the air, he whirled and returned to his classroom, leaving a bewildered Harry standing alone. He'd been telling the truth about not sleeping well, although that was true of most of his nights here. Jake still didn't know, and Harry didn't intend on telling him.

He sighed, feeling like the weight of the world was on his shoulders even though he knew that feeling like that was stupid and juvenile. He wandered off to see if Doris was alone. If she was, there was a chance that she would let him sleep on her couch for a little while.

The office was in sight, and he saw the door open. A very small girl stepped out, a mass of thick black hair that hung straight to her mid-back and orange heels being the only other details that he could discern about her from this distance. He approached.

As he watched, she took several confident steps, and then her ankle twisted violently to the side as her heel broke and she toppled to the ground. He moved faster, breaking into a light jog, and was at her side in moments.

"Are you alright?"

She waved her hands over her ankle, which was already swelling. "I think that I hurt my leg." Her voice was halting, and her accent was thicker than most of the other kid's there. She looked up, and he saw that she was Asian. She smiled when he gently helped her up, making sure that she didn't need to put any pressure on her injured ankle.

"Thank you. I am Maiko."

"It's no trouble. I'm Harry. We're going to go to the nurse's office and have you looked at, okay?" He smiled reassuringly when she winced as a spike of pain raced from her ankle through her nervous system. "They'll take good care of you."

The walk was a little awkward, and they had to go back for her broken shoe when they were almost half-way down the path.

"If it's going to be a bit of a wait at the nurse's office while they see to you, I'll pop down to the Arts and Crafts shed and see if I can glue your shoe back together."

Maiko's eyes went wide. "You would do that? You are very kind."

"It's not a problem."

They arrived at the nurse's office, and he handed her over to the care of Mrs. Barreca to be overseen. He stayed long enough to know that her ankle wasn't broken and that she would be fine as long as she stayed off her ankle for a couple of days, maybe longer.

He repaired her shoe at the Arts and Crafts building.

000

End chapter 10

This is a half-update. It's half the length, exactly, of a normal update. I am a very sick little girl (sneezes and hacks up a lung)


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Special thanks to Von for helping me figure out what to do about the poetry issue [I'm worse at it than Harry]

CHAPTER 11

He stood nervously outside the door to Mr. Wilkins classroom, delving into his intestines for his natural willfulness. When he had enough to make it through what he was about to do, he stepped boldly inside and loudly pulled back his chair before sitting down and crossing his legs.

Mr. Wilkins' gaze had the fire of a thousand exploding suns, and Harry could hazard a guess that he wasn't happy about the noise that Harry made sitting down. Harry found it in himself to smirk at the man. This was the last day that they would be seeing each other after all, and he knew from Doris that they couldn't kick him out or complain if he didn't fully participate. The classes were supposed to be fun diversions, not academic requirements.

Listening to his classmates read their poetry was as awful and spine-crushing as trying to write it, and he was very tempted to either cover his ears or walk out by the time the more sentimental pieces were mid-way through their arc of torture. How could Mr. Wilkins still be sane if he had to listen to this horrible butchery every two weeks every long summer?

Finally it was his turn, and he grinned slightly, the old excitement that he always felt when he was about to do something awfully naughty surging up. He stood and walked confidently to the center of cramped area at the front of the room. In his hands, he held the blank sheet of paper.

He made a big deal of shifting his feet and clearing his throat, and then he stood stock still for five whole seconds, taking the time to personally meet everyone's eyes one at a time in the room. Delicately, slowly, he rolled up the sleeve on his arm that was marred by Umbridge's sadistic idea of writing lines. The class soaked in the sight, which wasn't visible to Mr. Wilkins since was sitting on the wrong side, and a couple of girls sniffled.

And then he grinned at them with the hugest, shit-eating grin anybody had ever seen and bowed to the waist. He prepared to leave the room, but risked a look at Mr. Wilkins to see how he was reacting.

Mr. Wilkins looked appalled, and very confused.

"Mr. Potter, why aren't you reading your poem?"

Harry raised an eyebrow, managing to look condescending. "I just performed a poetic silence. It's not my fault if you didn't appreciate it."

And with that floating in the air slowly making his teacher homicidal as it sank in, Harry made his grand exit.

000

Jacob fiddled with his hands, and kicked a rock out of his way. He'd skipped out on Painting, which was a stupid waste of his time anyway since the only thing he could paint was a house, to have some time to think when he wouldn't be surrounded by people eating or spending time with Harry. His brain shut down a little when he was with Harry, which was why he was so quiet around him instead of talking his ear off. He was just so comfortable around him that he didn't feel the need to fill their silences like he did with everyone back home and Bella especially.

But today he was having some problems. Yesterday afternoon he'd gone to bathroom in the middle of his Boxing class, and caught sight of Harry walking arm-in-arm with a girl he'd never seen before. He'd hid behind the bathroom, not wanting to be seen spying on them like a creep, and watched them walk past him obliviously.

The girl was really pretty, and she was smiling a lot at Harry, who was being a lot more talkative than he usually was.

He couldn't explain why, but the whole deal had set his blood on fire. He didn't have a right to feel like this, since it wasn't like Harry was his sandbox and some other kid was playing in him, but rationalizing hadn't helped so far. He'd been terse with him last night, and regretted it now.

Harry could spend time with girls if he wanted to. Of course he could. He was his own person, and he had a great personality when he actually let you see it. Girls should be flocking to him…

Oh, who was he kidding? He'd always been a possessive kid, and this wasn't any different. He wanted Harry all to himself, and he knew how much time Aleksey spent with Anna and didn't want to lose Harry to some girl that would suck up all of their evening time together.

Now, his problem was how he could somehow make himself a more worthwhile option for Harry without getting caught cock-blocking and thus looking like a total asshole.

He paced some more, and then decided to stalk all around the premises of the camp to try and work some of his nervous energy out.

000

Flying as high as a kite now that his immediate problem was now dealt with and tossed into the wind like so much chaff, Harry skipped (although he'd deny any such thing if asked) down the path towards Doris' office, planning on bragging to her about how he'd bared a very private part of himself to a bunch of near-strangers. She'd been trying to help him open up more, although not necessarily verbally. According to her, he was emotionally stunted and suppressed his problems too much, which was why he was having so many nightmares- everything raises to the surface when your subconscious is in control and you can't protect yourself with distractions anymore.

She'd also slipped him some sleeping pills, and said that she wouldn't charge. Sometimes it helped to be the therapist's pet project.

Before he could reach her office, however, Maiko appeared out of nowhere, balancing artfully on her crutches, and beamed at him. He smiled back, still floating on his high, and couldn't say no to her when she asked if he wanted to go track down one of the mythical vending machines together.

Supposedly, there were three vending machines, but only one was visible, and it was the one right in front of the councilor's offices, which made it very awkward to buy things from it. Kids often went on little hunts for the other two, but nobody had found one yet.

Maiko was very talkative once she trusted you, since she was scared of strangers, and she chattered away about her family and her pet hamster while they searched the campus. He laughed when she talked about the secret passageways fit for a sky movie that her dastardly rodent had created throughout her entire house, and the huge fit that her mom pitched.

They ended up taking a breather in the recreation room, sitting on one side of a couch while a young girl, maybe 8 or 9 years old, played a hand-held game with disturbing ferocity. She was cursing under her breath as she hit the buttons, and Maiko made a funny 'shocked' face at Harry.

He shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Kids these days."

"Hey, shut the fuck up!" the little girl snapped, flicking her eyes away from her game for a split-second, long enough to send them both a glare.

Harry ignored that and asked Maiko if she was ready to go back to hunting for a vending machine. She hummed a little.

"I don't know if I'm in the mood anymore."

"That's fine." Harry settled back into the couch some more. "Was there something you wanted to do or is it alright if we linger here for a bit?"

"I like it here." She smiled another one of her smiles at him, and briefly rested her head against his shoulder. A warning flag popped up in Harry's head, but he waved it away. Hermione leaned on him all the time, and he'd seen other girls do it to boys they weren't dating. He wasn't leading her on.

"So, Harry, why don't you tell me about your family? I've told you everything about mine."

Harry hesitated, freezing up. He almost brushed her off, but then he remembered what Doris told him about opening up. If talking about things that upset him would gradually make them go away and heal his nightmares, it was worth a shot.

"Well…"

000

Jacob ended up in the recreation room after his campus-spanning walk, and occupied himself with a popular magazine. It was weird reading gossip about celebrities that he knew either nothing about or hadn't even heard of, but entertaining anyway. He didn't really follow celebrity drama back home, and this was a unique experience because the news he read wasn't already colored by Quil or Embry's opinion on it.

He looked up when he heard a familiar laugh on the other side of the room. Sitting there sandwiched between the arm of a couch and that girl from before was Harry, and he was laughing and talking animatedly. He'd never seen him look so excited, and the girl was clutching at his arm.

Jacob scowled and looked back down at his magazine, trying to focus on what somebody was doing about their unplanned pregnancy. It was a noble effort, but all in vain. Harry might as well have been a magnet, because Jacob just couldn't stop looking at him.

He wondered if Harry knew that he was there, and if so, why he hadn't come over to say hello.

As he watched, Harry scratched the back of his head while thoughtfully saying something and the girl crept forward inch by inch into his personal space. She rested her hand on his far shoulder and then she leaned forward and…and she kissed him.

The magazine didn't stand a chance. It was crumpled and crushed and shredded before being wadded into a ball within seconds. Jacob felt like he was going to explode, and all he knew was that if he didn't get out of there now, he was going to do something really stupid.

He was too busy storming out to see Harry push Maiko off of him, and start to explain to her that there was somebody else.

The woods scantily ringing the camp sang to him a siren's song, and he was immersed in them before he'd fully processed that he was moving. The forest swallowed him up as he delved deeper into it, running full-tilt.

Rage and jealousy and hurt blinded him, blurring his vision and making everything look like a landscape of vomit. He roared, lashing out and catching a nearby tree with his fist. The bark shattered and positively flew off in large chunks, exposing the white under-flesh of the tree.

And then a ripping feeling grew all along his spine, and he fell to his knees in a thicket, thorns shredding at the skin of his forearms. He was oblivious to the little pinpricks of pain that they caused, completely submerged in the ocean of agony pouring like lava through every bone in his body. He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, and all that he could taste was the coppery taste of his blood from nearly biting through his tongue.

He thrashed and ended up on his back, howling and staring up at the crazily spinning trees. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew that it was hell in some way.

It felt like his spine snapped, and then his ribcage was tearing and stretching. His whole body went up in flames, and he passed out.

When he came to, his body was not his own.

The world was painted with smells, not colors, and everything around him seemed simultaneously muted and over-stimulated. The rage was still there beneath the soreness permeating every single nerve and cell and pore and whatever else he was made of, sizzling faintly like a banking fire.

How could Harry betray him like that? Sure, they were friends and Harry was always a little tight-lipped about his personal life, but surely he had a right to know about him having a fucking girlfriend!

His paws (_paws!) _dug into the dried leaves covering the dirt ground, and he took deep breaths through his snout _(snout!), _trying to be reasonable about this. Harry was his own person, and there was always a chance that he just didn't know how to tell him. Harry was the kind of guy to have never had a girlfriend before, not that Jake could talk. Bella didn't count, and before her he'd been too shy to approach anybody.

Wetness gathered in the glinting eyes, dripping through his fur and sliding down to sting his jaw, where the skin was just as damaged as his mouth had been from biting down on the pain as he transformed.

Transformed…was that what had happened? He looked at as much of himself as possible, craning his neck back to catch sight of a bushy tail. He did the wolf equivalent of an eyebrow raise at that.

He swished it experimentally, thoughts of Harry momentarily derailed.

Suddenly every crappy legend and scary story that his dad had ever told him was illuminated in a very different light. Memories flashed through his inner eye, hints and clues about something unbelievable, something illogical and superstitious.

After all, how could he have ever believed that people could change into wolves if it hadn't happened to him?

As his heartbeat slowed down and his mind tried to push his pain over Harry, pain that he still didn't want to understand because of what it would force him to realize about himself, he wondered how he could resume his human form.

He couldn't live the rest of his life as a wolf. He needed to take care of his dad-

The ripping sensation began again.

000

End chapter 11

A proper update with proper plot! Yay! (Bends over and hacks, shaking from head to toe) On the bummer side, I'm still fucking sick. I sound like a death rattle.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Don't kill me, but it's my birthday this Saturday and I will be busy all weekend (not to mention NOT HOME). The logical conclusion of this is that there will not be updates until possibly Monday night, although that is also doubtful since I now meet my editor (yay!) on Mondays…

Anyway, I'm not dead. I'm just old. Just think- at 18, I have officially violated Peter Pan's trust in me and become a grown-up.

CHAPTER 12

"Maiko, I'm sorry, but this can't happen. It'll hurt us both in the long run." He gently rubbed her shoulder, ducking his head to try and catch her eyes. She sniffled, and his heart contracted. He never wanted to make her cry, but she'd be crying a lot more in the long run if he didn't explain how things were. His lips still tingled from her lip gloss, and he couldn't help but notice that he'd enjoyed her kiss a hell of a lot more than the tearful one with Cho.

"Who is she? Is she here or where you live?"

The desperation in her voice to know more about her rival took Harry a little aback. He cleared his throat, wondering if this was such a good idea. Maybe he could tell her about Jacob without actually revealing his identity…?

"Well…they're very nice. They've got a wonderful personality and huge heart, and an unexpected sense of humor." He shifted his hips a little, trying to put some more space between them. Maiko was either oblivious to the fact that she was practically sitting in his lap or just didn't care.

She scooted closer. "What does she look like?"

"Tall."

Maiko's eyes narrowed and he decided that that hadn't been the smartest thing to say first off. She was, after all, quite small and unlikely to grow taller. "Oh?"

"Y-yes." He drew the word out nervously. "They're taller than me, actually."

Her expression shifted from anger to consideration, and she absently chewed on a piece of her thick hair. She had it in little braids today, bound with glittery ties. He hoped that she hadn't dressed up for him- he could never tell when a girl was trying to dress up and when she was just trying something new on a whim.

"There aren't very many very tall girls at this camp."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"So I don't think that it's someone here." Her eyes flickered and widened as something new occurred to her. "Is she even a 'she'? You haven't mentioned a gender once…it's very suspicious." Her spindly pointer finger prodded his nose accusingly, and she stuck out her lower lip. "I can keep a secret."

It would seem that he would be outing himself whether he wanted to or not today after all.

"Okay, you win. Yes, it's a boy…man."

She shrugged. "Well, I feel better now. This way I don't have to wonder if it's because of the size of my tits or something stupid like that. Knowing that I wasn't right for you fundamentally makes this little crush just that much easier to sever."

"And you're not, oh, disgusted with me?" Harry asked tentatively, not wanting to give her any ideas but also unable to believe his luck. Years of the Dursleys and their hatred for anything different from themselves made this akin to seeing a lady come floating down from the sky in a bubble.

Maiko shifted a little, sliding off of his poor sleeping thigh and cuddled back into the back of the couch. The girl with her game hissed at her for jostling the cushions but otherwise showed no interest in their drama. The kids playing some kind of dodge ball yelled at each other and laughed.

"I am a little disappointed, yes. Maybe I read too many romance novels, but I really thought that you would be the first boy I could be serious about."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "But we barely know each other. Sure, you're easy to talk to and you've told me a lot about yourself in the time since we've met, but you still don't know me and I don't know you."

She nodded. "I know…but there was something about the way you swooped out of nowhere and rescued me that really made me hope. It's like seeing a guy on a white horse appear out of nowhere- you'd never expect it to really happen, but you're very happy that it did."

"Well…I can still be your man on a white horse but not your boyfriend." He tried out a smile, and she smiled weakly back. "Come on, I've been known to be thick sometimes, but I'm also known as a wonderful person to cry on when you're having a shitty day."

"I'll consider it, but for now…" She stood, smoothed down her yellow dress, and knelt briefly to pull up her sock which had slipped down into a rumpled heap by her ankle. "I'd like to have some time alone to think about this. You know, to get you out of my system and find some other poor guy to ogle."

"I understand. I'll see you later…?"

She smiled and nodded, glancing at him only briefly. "Yes, maybe after dinner."

000

He was almost out of the woods before he brushed against a low scrubby bush and realized that he was stark naked. Panicking, he back-tracked to the spot where he'd first transformed, and found the shredded scraps of fabric that didn't even suffice as rags scattered through the bushes. Looking up, he saw a piece of his shoe dangling from a tree branch by a shoe lace.

"Fuck."

What the hell was he going to do now?

His emotions surged and boiled inside, and he only had a second to wonder if this was what a woman felt like when she was going through PMS before he was on the ground again.

The first thing he noticed when the process completed itself was that it hadn't hurt nearly as much that time. He could move without wincing, and there was a hint of gleeful energy beneath the dull pain.

Experimentally, he flexed his mental muscles and found himself back in his human body.

He forgot about how he was going to get back into his dormitory with no clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon experimenting. He could do some serious stunts when in his wolf form, but it was downright weird not having opposable thumbs.

The sky started to dim, the sun creeping out of sight. Lazily, he arched his canine back and growled playfully at a rabbit that was trying to creep through the outskirts of his chosen location without getting seen. It squeaked and made a run for it.

Fascinated, he pursued and caught the creature. Something heady filled his head with warm cotton fuzz as he cheerfully gnawed on the rabbit's mangled skull, keeping it between his forepaws as he reclined on his stomach. The flattened leaves and cool earth soothed him, and he sniffed the evening air, mixed with the scents of rabbit.

Suddenly, a hideous noise rang out across through the system of loudspeakers. He whimpered and covered his furry ears, waiting for the onslaught to pass.

Finally, the sounds of sirens faded and he raised his head shyly, one ear perking up like a periscope and swiveling one way and the other. No sounds but the final chittering of the birds and the wind in the trees greeted his sensitive ears.

He'd just relaxed to gnaw on his rabbit head once more (he couldn't seem to stop- there was something irresistible about the chewy texture) when his human memory kicked in and reminded him that that was the dinner bell.

The wolf yelped and transformed back into a human in the blink of an eye, pain-free except for a burning behind his fingernails and toenails. Jacob blinked slowly, looking down at his hands. Unlike in Teen Wolf, he wasn't covered with embarrassing clumps of body hair. In fact, he looked exactly the same. Clutching at his face, he felt around for a beard just in case, and found nothing but the slightest hint of stubble. He hadn't shaved in a couple of days, though, so this was normal.

He was _still _naked and caught in the woods.

000

If he turned his head and squinted, he could make out Maiko sitting with a gaggle of other Asian girls, although none of them were from the same country and had some political issues with each other.

This was pathetic. Harry sighed and spooned some rice into his mouth, chewing it slowly and wondering where Jacob was. Normally the American didn't pass up a chance to sit close by, because it made it easier for them to leave alone and enjoy the evening together.

Aleksey materialized in a blast of ebullience by Harry's elbow and shoved a lemon tart between his fingers. Harry looked blankly at it, and then slowly asked Aleksey a question with his eyes.

"The sour lemon is for your sour mood." Aleksey explained, and Anna nodded vigorously behind him, reaching around his brawny shoulder to pat Harry on the forearm.

"Cheer up, kiddo. Jacob will show up- you know he can't stay away from you. He likes you too much." She tried out an encouraging smile, and giggled when Aleksey bent his neck like a serpent and smacked a kiss onto her cheek.

Harry shook his head. "No, we don't do much when we're together. He probably just found somebody more exciting to hang out with and missed dinner."

"Shut up." Aleksey told him seriously. "You are just making yourself more nervous by saying such foolish things to yourself."

He sighed. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Anna stuck her tongue out. "We know that you're insecure."

"You guys are so not helping right now. Ugh." Harry bent forward and groaned into his hands. "I just…"

"I know. Come on, Aleksey; let's give him some space to wallow." Anna urged her boyfriend away from Harry, grabbing lightly at his arm and tugging until he reluctantly got up to follow her. They would spend their evening hunting for various private areas where they wouldn't get caught together.

Left to his own devices in the swiftly-emptying cafeteria, Harry picked at his lemon tart with his fingers, and then absently licked some of the yellow paste off of his thumb. It was greasy and the tang of chemicals was stronger than the flavor of lemon, but he ate the rest of the tart anyway simply because he was bored.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Maiko leaving with the same girls that she ate with, talking excitedly about nail jewelry and some kind of international pop star that'd come to her city and signed something or other. Soon it was just him, the greasy paper that the tart had been on, and the buzz of the fluorescents.

He was lonely without Jacob.

000

He was starving, but there was nothing for it. His only plan was to wait for the lights to go out before sneaking through the camp until he could somehow get to his dormitory. If any of his room mates were awake, he'd probably have to think of something fast to explain why he was naked in the middle of the night, but he wasn't going to worry about that for a while.

Creeping through the woods until he was strategically close to his dormitory, about two hundred meters away under the cover of the woods, he crouched down to wait.

Thankfully for his stomach, he caught a few more rabbits and a ferret while he waited, although the ferret wasn't as juicy as the rabbits and gave him nasty sticky feeling in the back of his throat.

Finally, finally, the lights went out and there was a collective silent sigh of rest spreading over the camp. Counselors made their rounds, smoking (which wasn't allowed), or walking in pairs in order to sneak gropes and kisses from each other.

Jacob very nearly got scarred for life when two of the ugliest maintenance staff decided to take a tumble in the grass just behind his dormitory in the shadows provided by the building. They were scared off by some counselors patrolling the area, though, so he was saved.

Cautiously, once the majority of the staff went to bed and the moon was high and bright in the sky, he transformed and slunk into the dorms.

Thankfully, he could hear nothing but snoring and grunts. No one was having a whispered conversation about a girl problem or something in Playboy tonight.

Gratefully, he edged past Harry's bunk. He looked down impulsively, and caught wide green eyes. He turned bright red and shuffled hurriedly to his bed, grabbing the closest clothes and dashing into the bathroom to wash the rabbit blood off.

Harry just saw him naked! How humiliated could he get in one day, even with the old rage hiding beneath everything else and threatening to surge forward?

000

End chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Jacob sat down next to Harry at breakfast and opened his mouth to say 'good morning', but was cut off by a curt motion of Harry's hand.

"What was that stuff on you last night?"

"Huh?" What stuff? He was thrown by Harry's question until he remembered the rabbits. Shit, Harry _would _be the kind of person to bring up the blood on a naked person instead of the fact that the person was naked in the first place.

"Look, if you don't want to tell me, fine." Harry snapped, digging listlessly into his eggs. "I'm not your boss- you can keep it to yourself if you have to. I'd just like to know if you feel that you can share it with me."

Jacob decided to go with the Socratic Method and answered with a question. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because it looked like blood, and that worried me since, believe it or not, I care about whether or not you got the shit beaten out of you last night." He pushed his empty plate away from himself roughly, a sharp noise punctuating it. "You never showed up last night to walk around like we usually do."

Something light and unwelcome under the circumstances fluttered in Jacob's chest. Harry began to take on a slight glow that had nothing to do with the greenish fluorescents. "Did you…miss me?"

"Of course I missed you!" Harry cried, turning a bit red. Meredith, sitting a few seats away, raised her eyebrows in bemusement at the odd tension between the two boys. Sure, there was always tension between teenagers, but this seemed more intense.

"Oh." Jacob was a little stunned. It was like asking for a slice of bread and getting a whole cake instead. The glow grew stronger, forming pools of glimmering light in the hollows of Harry's collarbone. A halo surrounded his head.

They were quiet, and the hum of young people chatting broke through their bubble intermittently. Someone laughed loudly a table away.

"Say something." Harry muttered it into his coffee, blowing on it.

"I…I missed you too." Jacob choked it out, the words fighting to stay hiding behind the tatters of his pride. The room felt stifling, and his mind was getting fuzzier the longer he looked at Harry. There was just something so bizarrely ethereal about him right now, and he had a strengthening urge to reach out and touch him; to see if he was real.

"Okay, good. Melodramatics aside, I pissed off my English teacher yesterday when I refused to write the poetry assignment." Harry grinned, and the surreal moment passed. The sickly light returned, and Jacob wondered if he'd merely imagined the golden light.

"Seriously? You are such a bad ass. What did he do?"

000

Lucius paced his bedroom, waving his hand for silence every time he heard the faint sound of his wife opening her mouth to say something. She'd been asking him to come to bed for hours now, at first in periodic intervals when he was still at his desk, and now whenever she could.

The fire glowed dimly, catching her hair and the lace on her night dress. She sighed heavily, and the light shifted and highlighted the slight swell of her stomach.

"Lucius, come to bed."

"No, not yet. I've almost got it, and I just know that I'll lose the pieces as soon as I lie down." With that said once again, he continued pacing.

He'd spent every spare minute since the horrible incident in the Ministry with Potter and his cohorts plotting. He knew that he had to get out of this- Mudbloods taking over Wizarding Society or not, it was impractical (not to mention expensive) to support the Dark Lord, and his son was nearly grown now. There wasn't time to be young and stupid anymore, not with the prospect of a second child and possibly grandchildren if Draco ever got his act together and found some nice girl to settle down with, and hopefully not that trollop Parkinson.

There had to be some way. It couldn't be impossible to retract his loyalty to the Dark Lord with his life intact.

He just had to figure out how.

Two floors below, Bellatrix laughed at something Fenrir grunted that escaped the hearing of the neophytes loitering with them. They were just a few of the many supporters crawling out of the woodwork to the Dark Lord's side, now that the rumors of his return had circulated to the lowest rungs of society.

000

Although they were officially friends again, Harry could feel how distant Jacob was being. Maiko came around to chat with him from time to time, and loved to talk about the various eligible people that she was considering starting brief affairs with. Normally he would have found this irritating, but she had a way of making even the most inane things sound entertaining and exciting, so he listened gladly when he wasn't in classes or with Doris.

Another week crawled by, and he hadn't made any progress with what he was going to do about school supplies. He'd finished his school assignments, thank god, but Hermione wasn't even in the country so he couldn't send her regular letters without the staff getting suspicious about Hedwig's long absences.

To add to his stress, Jacob would inexplicably leave at around 9 o'clock every night, and made it clear with his body language that he didn't want to be followed.

Harry was in agony. He was almost positive that Jacob was seeing someone now.

000

End chapter 13

Gah, it's a half-update again. In my defense, I have a lot of school nonsense going on.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

As a wolf, things were both clearer and more confused. Whenever he transformed, it was as though someone gripped a hold of his heart and squeezed. There was this sense of loneliness, a pervading sensation that he wasn't meant to be alone.

And he thought about Harry _all the time. _Ever since the golden incident at the breakfast table a week ago, he'd seen the same light descend lightly around Harry at unexpected moments. It left his head dizzy and his self-control over his wolf side weaker every time it happened.

As a matter of fact, it was starting to happen now. They were sitting in the recreation room, about half an hour after dinner, and Harry was sitting next to him for once. Normally they sat on different couches so that they could stretch out, but tonight Jacob sat next to Harry, and maybe closer than he had to.

His nightly musings made him bolder, so he sidled a little closer and watched the glow grow. Harry seemed to notice that he was looking, because his bony shoulders started to tense up, shifting the plaid of his shirt.

It grew, enveloping Harry's entire body.

"Jake, why are you looking at me like that?"

The sounds came out incoherent, twisting themselves like beautiful ribbons of sound that wrapped their way around Jacob's head instead of simply going in his ears. Unconsciously, he scooted as close as he could, given the small space left to him, and tentatively rested his big hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry's pupils widened in fear, and he shrank back a little. "Jake, you're scaring me. What's going on? Why are your eyes like that?"

He didn't like it that Harry was afraid of him. Harry never needed to be afraid of him…he was going to make sure that nobody ever hurt him or touched him against his will again.

"Like what?"

His voice sounded strange even to him. Harry apparently thought so too, because his face started to turn red. "They're kind of…shining. The light's giving them glints, like a cat's or something."

"Oh."

They were quiet, and Jacob felt like every nerve in his body was being skewered, but in a good way. It was like someone was taking his consciousness and molding it into something far better than it'd been before. He felt peaceful, like everything was right with the world.

"Listen, Jacob, I got to go now."

Harry's voice was soft and nervous, and he stood, smoothing down his shirt. He made to leave, and Jacob felt a sharp pain in his chest. He wanted to call him back, but his tongue wouldn't work and something was squeezing his throat.

He was on the other side of the deserted recreation room, his hand on the door knob, when he stopped. Jake's breath caught, and then Harry was turning and crossed the distance between them in one gold-blurred second.

Jacob stood instinctively. They stood facing each other for a breathless second, eyes flickering everywhere but each other. Without warning, Harry threw his arms around his neck so that he could put his mouth to his ear, confessed hotly into it, and fled the room before he could so much as blink. Dizzily, Jacob looked around the abandoned Recreation room, and sank slowly onto the thick carpet, which smelled of dust and spaghetti sauce. For a long time, he simply laid there on his back, staring up at the oscillating blades of the fan.

He'd never dreamed that Harry might love him back.

000

Harry covered his mouth with his hands, wheezing with shock and out of breath from running as fast as he could away from the recreation room. Teenagers were walking around like nothing had happened just a short space away, as though he hadn't just completely rocked the foundation of his world. It was one thing to have a secret, and quite another to blurt it out prematurely.

Crickets chirped, and he looked around with wild eyes. He'd run towards the staff buildings, and was standing close to the darkened windows of Doris' office.

Oh god, what had he been thinking? He'd ruined everything! How could he expect Jacob to treat him after forcing his affections onto him when he was most likely seeing somebody?

"Fuck…" He moaned. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He'd lost his head, he knew that. There was just something about the way Jake was acting, and how close he'd been sitting. It looked like he was going to kiss him, although that had to be wishful thinking on his part after more fantasizing than was good for him.

He had to get a grip. If he could make it through tonight without a confrontation with Jake, then he would wake up before everyone else and hide somewhere until Doris woke up. He'd ask her what he was supposed to do, and then resolve this before he lost Jacob.

Someone put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. With a shriek, he turned and smacked whoever it was on the shoulder.

"Hey! Don't sneak up on me!"

"Sorry, sugar, but I couldn't help myself. I heard a little boy sniffling out here all by himself and I just couldn't leave you out here by your lonesome." Doris purred, grasping him by the back of his neck and pulling him into her office. She flicked on a dim lamp, covered by a sheer red scarf, and sat. When he made no move to relax, and invitingly patted the sofa beside her. "Come on, babe, sit down."

He shakily sat down where she wanted him, and sighed when she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head onto her neck.

"Poor love, what've you done that's gotten you so upset?"

"What makes you think that I did anything? I could very well be a victim, you know." Harry scolded, although it was more to give him some time to make peace with himself about saying out loud what he'd done.

"Because you're a man of action, and it would take a hell of a lot to make you a victim. You're the kind of boy who kicks back." She hummed, and began to pet his hair. "Now, do you want to wait a couple of minutes before you tell me? I don't mind waiting, and you need some comforting."

He nodded, not trusting his voice with the sobs in his throat trying to get out.

They didn't speak for who knows how long. The fans oscillated through their normal patterns, and the sounds of teenagers faded a little more with every minute that went by. The alert for 'lights out' went off, but Doris merely reached over and switched off the lamp.

In the dark, he found his courage.

"I told Jake that I love him."

"Oh." If the sound of that 'oh' was a color, it would be drab purple.

Harry blinked. He'd been expecting something more than that, like huge scolding fit or ecstatic inquiries as to when they were getting married. "That's it?"

"Yes. It's sooner than I thought it would happen, but I always knew that you would burst sometime." Her fingers rubbed the tension out of his back, and he reveled in the warm smell of her. He could smell her sweat, since today had been hotter than usual, and her rose perfume. "Oh, honey, I just hope that this isn't going to hurt you too much. First love is always the hardest."

He groaned and nuzzled closer to her. "That isn't what I wanted to hear. Where is your clever plan, your scheme to get me out of this mess?"

"What can I say?" She unhooked one arm from around his chest and used it to toy with the beads she was wearing today looped millions of times around her neck. "I think that you did the right time. The ball is in his court- you have to wait and see what he does before you make another move. It's all about taking turns."

"What if I can't wait?" Harry whispered. "Even now it kills me to be away from him, to not know what he's thinking about this…about me."

In one smooth movement, she pulled him onto her lap and held him as close as she could.

"I hate to say it, but you're just going to have to bear it. I don't think that it would be the smartest thing to do, but if you need to, you can come and sleep on my floor tonight instead of going back to your dormitory and running the risk of having a confrontation." She rocked him like a baby. "I have a nice rug and some extra pillows, so you wouldn't be too uncomfortable."

He thought about it.

"Is it a better idea for me to go back to my own bed tonight or not?"

She shrugged, kissing the top of his head. "That's your decision. I'm just giving you another option. Things like this should have more wiggle room than they normally have."

"I think that I'll come with you tonight." Even as he said it, he knew that it was a bad idea, but he couldn't help it. He was too afraid of even the chance of seeing Jake so soon. Jacob was a lot bigger than him, and if he got angry about this, he wouldn't stand a chance. Not that Jake was the type of guy to react with violence when something really upset him, but there was a first time for everything.

"Okay, but first you have to get off of my lap." She laughed quietly, smoothing his hair back from his forehead.

000

Her rooms were small but comfortable, and there was an empty bed on the other side of the room.

"Who sleeps there?" Harry asked, pulling his shirt off.

"Nobody right now, but that's Karen's bed. She's one of the cooks, and she's in a new bed every night, so I have the place to myself except when she comes back here for a change of clothes." Doris laughed, emerging from the bathroom while applying tooth paste to her brush. "Do you need something to sleep in?"

Harry gave her calf-length night gown a long look. "Um…"

Catching his look, she guffawed loudly. "Okay, okay, keep your manly pride. But at least I won't be the one waking up with frozen nipples in the morning."

He choked, and threw his shirt at her. She ducked it gracefully and shut the bathroom door before he could throw anything else. Through the door, she called, "There's plain t-shirts in the lowest drawer. Borrow one of them if you like."

Cautiously, he approached her chest of drawers and knelt to reach the bottom one. Pulling it open slowly in case her undergarments would mysteriously pop out and attack him, he discovered that it was full of neatly folded shorts with the camp slogan on the right hem and t-shirts with the same slogan printed across the front.

"Are these uniforms?"

"Yes. They were originally required, but they didn't have them in my, ahem, size, so I'm allowed to wear what I like. I courteously allowed them to store their extras in that drawer because I wasn't using it and I'm nice like that."

He looked from the t-shirt he'd lifted up, which was a large, to her ample breasts. "I see what you mean."

"Unfortunately, most young bimbos these days don't." she put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "They go around willy-nilly plumping theirs with plastic or whatever the hell it is that they make fake tits out of, and forget that they're going to have a hell of a time finding decent lingerie that can strap them into place like it's proper, and blouses that don't pop open at embarrassing times."

His head reeled a little from the slightly unwelcome tirade, and he nodded warily. "I, uh, understand."

She laughed again, slapped him on the back, and unceremoniously got into bed.

"Come on, kid, get yourself groomed and then come to bed."

He raised an eyebrow. "I thought I was sleeping on the floor."

She shrugged. "The bed is big enough for your skinny ass to fit in next to my big one."

This wasn't a good idea, he knew, but he got in anyway. She patted his cheek and reached over him to shut off the light. There was a brief moment of confusion when they couldn't sort out whose side of the bed was whose, and then she forcibly held him still and fixed the covers.

Problem solved, she rolled onto her side facing him, sighed a little, and slipped into sleep.

Harry didn't fall asleep for hours, his thoughts racing around Jake, although she was warm and comforting, one soft arm wrapped around him like a pillow.

000

End chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Jacob was disappointed when he returned to his dormitory and found Harry missing, but he comforted himself with the fuzzy feeling in his chest that throbbed in time with his heartbeats.

He could wait.

Apparently, he couldn't wait very well, though. The next morning brought no sign of Harry, and the other boys who noticed this joked absently about Harry finding somewhere better to spend the night. The very thought of Harry with somebody else, especially like that, made Jake want to punch something.

He growled under his breath when breakfast ended with no sign of him, and endured his morning classes with gritted teeth, counting down the seconds until he could leave and hunt for Harry. This was bad- even if he wasn't feeling jealous, Harry had been missing for half the day as well as all night. Anything could have happened to him.

000

The bed was different. That was the first thing he noticed when he woke up, and the second thing was that he wasn't alone. Opening his eyes cautiously, since unexpected bed partners aren't always a good thing, he peeped at who it was.

Doris slept with her mouth slightly open, and breathed through it louder than Hermione did when she fell asleep in the library. She had her hands tucked under her chin like a mouse cleaning its face, and her hair fanned out everywhere.

Grinning at the picture she made, he carefully shuffled out of the bed, doing his damnedest to make sure that he didn't rock the mattress and wake her. Safely removed from the tangle of quilts and her leg, which wrapped around his calf sometime in the night, he tip-toed into the bathroom and showered.

Helping himself to a towel, he came out and hunted around for his clothes.

She didn't wake up as he dressed, for which he was thankful. He thought about leaving a note for several minutes, and was about to find some paper to write with when her alarm shrieked and she cursed sleepily. Her hand did the spider-crawl across her night stand without looking, and at last she silenced the alarm.

"Holy Nora, it had to ruin my good dream…"

Harry moved his weight from foot to foot as she fumbled around, straightening her nightgown and gathering her hair.

"Um…"

"Gah!" With a yell, she fell off the bed and landed on her left shoulder. "Oh, that's really going to hurt later, damn it."

"Sorry." Harry released his breath between clenched teeth out of sympathy when she winced some more, rolling her shoulder to try and test out the sore spots. "Well, uh, I guess we're even now."

She grinned, shook her head, and got to her feet slowly. "Oh, boy, you are going to be the death of me. Do you have any idea how cold your feet were last night?"

Harry shrugged. "You could have had me sleep in your room mate's bunk or had me on the floor."

The rug rumpled slightly as she dragged her big toe across it. "She would have killed me if she, for once, came back here to sleep and found a lad lying in her bed, and this rub is thin around the edges, which is where your head would go."

He just shook his head and bent to tie his sneaker laces. "I think you just wanted me to sleep with you."

"Yeah, pretty much."

He choked, surprised. He'd meant it as a joke, not a confirmation. "Seriously?"

She blinked slowly, her cow-like eyes as placid as ever. "Yes. I don't like lying unless it's necessary, and I don't see any harm in telling you that I wanted you to sleep with me last night."

"Um, should I be freaked out right now?" He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly very conscious of the windows, doors, and possible projectiles and weapons ranged around the room. A dim memory of a female teacher holding two yarn dolls and explaining 'The Bad Touch' to his class surfaced, flickering around the edges and bringing back all sorts of other smells and sounds from his early childhood.

"No, not unless you want to be; I got lonely…I wasn't used to sleeping alone when I first came here, and you could say that I've never really gotten used to it, even though I don't have to worry about somebody stealing the covers this way." She sat heavily on the edge of her bed and started the brush her hair. "I guess that I forgot how what happened last night might have been misunderstood."

Harry forced himself to stop thinking about Dudley calling him a cabbage head and sat down beside her, although he left two feet of space between them. He could tell that she'd noticed, too, because she made a sad sound and started to braid her hair. When she was in a good mood, she left her hair down, and when she was in a bad one she got it out of her face.

"I'm sorry, sugar. I never wanted to make you uncomfortable. I just…you're more than some kid to me, and this is how I show affection." She reached out slowly, meeting his eyes and raising an eyebrow. He nodded faintly, and her hand descended and squeezed his knee.

When they'd waited a few minutes to take in the full situation, he asked, "Who was he?"

"Who?"

"Him, the guy you used to sleep with before you moved here- the one you used me to replace." He dared to grin at her a little as he said that, and she grinned back, smacking his arm with the flat of her hand.

"My ex-husband, Jason."

"Oh."

"Yeah…" She looked down, and then at the clock. "Oh, fudge. You'd better get out of here, kiddo. I have a shower to take and then a day of pathetic problems to listen to, and you've already missed breakfast."

He nodded. "Okay. Oh, what do I do if I see Jake and he tries to attack me out of homophobia or something?"

"Scream for help and kick him in the groin."

Harry winced. "Oh…'kay. I'll save that for a last resort."

Her shoulders shrugged and she reached down to pull off her socks. "Hey, it's your funeral. I did my part with the advice, and it's up to you to use it or disregard it."

On impulse, he bent and kissed her cheek. "Alright, thank you! I'll see you later."

"Bye, sugar."

000

Outside, he wrapped his arms around his shoulders and looked around. The amount of kids hanging about was lower than normal, so he determined that the majority were in group activities or classes right now.

He was already late for Biology already, so he decided to take a long walk and hope that he didn't run into anybody he knew. Now wasn't really the best time for him to make mindless chit-chat with somebody, even if it was Aleksey, whose idea of mindless chit-chat sometimes involved complex equations and weird facts about Bolsheviks.

The grounds were tinted gray and yellow, the grass dying already and the sky overcast. He wondered if it was going to rain.

The path he'd been using to circle the entire campus suddenly narrowed and died off into a thin patch of rocky ground before it disappeared as a rabbit trail into the thickets by the edges of the forest. He looked at the woods curiously, and then down at his legs. He was wearing long dungarees today and his sneakers and socks covered his feet completely, so if he encountered some poison oak or the like, he would be protected.

He forged ahead, pushing the branches out of his way. There were two kinds of wildflowers growing here and there in the underbrush, one yellow and the other blue. He bent his head and sniffed at the yellow one curiously after passing the same kind of flower several times, and sneezed.

"Just great…" he mumbled, not liking the prospect of an allergic reaction. Thankfully, after sneezing a few more times, the ticklish-painful feeling in his nose went away.

Something crunched underfoot.

He looked down; mouth parted, and yelped when he saw that it was a neat little pyramid of rabbit skulls. There wasn't even a scrap of fur or skin on them, even though he could tell by the rusty color of the blood staining them in small patches that they were fresh.

"What the fuck?"

000

It was half an hour until lunch, and Jacob was supposed to be learning how to climb a rope with nothing but his bare hands. He wasn't, however, learning this because he was frantically searching the campus for Harry. He'd already stopped into Aleksey's Boxing class and Meredith's Painting (it was an ironic joke on her part, because she was mildly color blind) and asked them if they knew anything about Harry going off somewhere today.

Neither of them had seen him since last night.

His panic began to peak, and he cursed before setting off for the woods at a dead run. He didn't care how weird he looked to the lazier campers, running like a madman through camp. This looked a lot less strange than turning into a giant wolf would.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

He broke into the cover of the woods just in time and transformed mid-leap. It didn't hurt at all now, and he almost enjoyed the sensation of wind blowing through his fur and the smoothness of his muscles as he ran.

He went to his favorite clearing, and settled down to try and calm himself down before he did something stupid like try to track Harry with his wolf nose. He'd know his scent anywhere-

His ears perked up as his snout picked up a new smell. There was something different about the clearing. Looking around, he saw that his rabbit skull collection had been disturbed. Two of the skulls had been crushed somehow, and the fragments spread out like a fan.

Growling under his breath a little in case it was a fox or a coyote trying to invade his territory, his ears picked up a sharp intake of breath. Looking up at where he'd heard the sound come from, he spotted something in the branches of an evergreen.

A sneaker was planted against the trunk, and two white-knuckled hands clenched a tree branch to steady their owner. He picked out other details of the human intruder with his eyes while he stretched out his nose and smelled…

_Harry._

000

End chapter 15

Sorry it's a little shorter than normal, but it's really late and my eye strain is acting up.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

One minute he was looking at the rabbit skulls, and the next minute he heard something crashing through the forest. There weren't a lot of options around for defending himself in case it turned out to be whatever killed the rabbits like this, so he did the first thing that came to mind and climbed up an evergreen. The thick foliage managed to cover him pretty well, although some bits couldn't get entirely out of sight.

He waited, watching curiously, eager to find out what was tromping through the woods.

Unfortunately, when it finally did come into view, it wasn't something as manageable as a fox or even a coyote. It was a wolf, and a big one at that with thick russet fur and an intimidating jaw.

He held his breath, and consciously contracted all of his muscles in an attempt to shrink himself somehow. The wolf settled down, and looked like it was about to take a nap, so Harry dared to relax a little bit.

When it clearly noticed the rabbit skulls, he caught his breath again, which must have got its attention because the shaggy head raised and stared straight at him.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…" He could swear all he liked now because he was doomed. He couldn't stay up here forever, and wolves could be very patient. A creature that size couldn't be very happy about living off of rabbits, and would no doubt appreciate catching something Harry's size for dinner; he wondered how something as dangerous as a wolf came to be living so close to a summer camp without anybody noticing. Maybe it'd escaped from a zoo?

The beast prowled over to the base of the tree, settled on its haunches, and stared straight up at him. He cowered as best as he could. Human opponents were one thing, but animals had an entirely different set of skills.

He was just dreaming up an elaborate scheme of somehow climbing from tree to tree without touching the ground when he heard the sound. At first he couldn't believe his ears, but then he realized that the animal really was whimpering. One massive paw scratched pitifully at the base of the tree.

"Um…" This was an unforeseen development. What did it want from him, other than to eat him? "Good doggy?"

It wagged its tail, and rose up on its hind legs, bracing itself against the trunk.

Harry sighed. "Okay, I'll strike you a deal." He was fucked anyway, so why not try and reason with it? "For every branch I climb down, you back up two steps."

It snuffled, and then took two steps back. Harry blinked, and then smirked; believing that he now understood the situation, he said, "Oh, I see. If you're a person, why don't you just transform back so we can talk properly? I promise not to tell even if you aren't registered. Hell, I'll even go with you and witness that today was your first successful transformation. All you have to do is not eat me."

The wolf tilted its head, looking confused. It took a few more steps back, and then wagged its tail.

"Fine, fine, stay that way. Now, I'm going to come down now and I'd appreciate it if you didn't pounce on me. I'll allow you to sniff me so that your wolf is more comfortable around me, but that's it." Harry said this in his firmest voice, the same one he had to use on the twins when they were being too distracting during a D.A. meeting.

Jacob was baffled. First he found Harry, in a _tree _no less, and now they were communicating. He wondered how he was going to pull this off, regretting that he hadn't just run away at the first sign of life. Getting discovered was not something that he was prepared to handle. This was ridiculous, and Harry wasn't Bella Swan- there was almost no chance of him simply accepting that he turned into a wolf when he got a little emotional.

Harry hesitated on the lowest branch, meeting Jacob's eyes and holding them. Cautiously, he put one foot on the ground. Jake made sure to stand absolutely still, and even sat so that Harry would be less afraid. He didn't like the idea of scaring Harry- hadn't he promised himself last night that he was going to make sure that nobody ever hurt him ever again?

Harry put the other foot on the ground and stepped slowly away from the tree. He crouched and held one hand out, moving slowly and keeping his eyes steady. Jacob hypothesized that Harry was probably pretty good with animals- if he was a wild wolf, this might actually work…as long as he wasn't hungry.

"Here, come smell me. We're friends, okay?"

He crept forward. If Harry was giving him a chance to get this close to him, he wasn't going to waste it. He smelled his palm, then his fingertips. Hesitating, he wondered if he could take it a step further…

He licked it. Harry started but didn't object. Getting bolder, he sidled up and laid his head against his shoulder and nuzzled the side of his face as gently as he could. The first couple of times he'd run around, experimenting with his new muscles, he'd been very surprised at how powerful he was. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally tear some of Harry's tendons by cuddling him too hard.

Harry stroked his fur lightly, and then moved away. "Okay, that's enough for now. Are you going to transform and come with me to get registered?"

How did Harry know that he was a person?

"No? That's fine. It's your decision after all, and I did say that I wouldn't tattle on you. However, in exchange for keeping my mouth shut, I'd appreciate it if you didn't spread it around to any of our kind that I'm staying here, for obvious reasons. Dumbledore wouldn't be too happy if certain people came in and kidnapped me in the middle of the summer holidays." Harry stroked him some more, and let him nuzzle his face a few more times before he stood to go.

Who the hell was Dumbledore, and who wanted to kidnap Harry? He was beginning to wish that he had the option of transforming so that he could ask. So far, Harry sounded like he was either talking in some kind of government code or had gone inexplicably insane. Maybe the stress of last night's revelations made him snap?

Harry bent down to re-tie his shoe-lace, which came undone while he was climbing. As he did so, he raised his eyes and met Jacob's. He frowned, tilted his head, and squinted. Then he gasped and leaned forward until they were nose to snout.

"Oh my god! _Jacob?!"_

He recoiled, whimpering without realizing it. Harry followed, closing the distance between them again. He tapped the tip of his snout, and snickered.

"Holy shit, this was the last thing I expected you to be. I never would have guessed that you were also…anyway, why didn't you say something? I've been doing my damnedest trying to act normal around you all this time when we could have been far more honest with each other."

Jacob was drawing a blank, and before he could stop himself he was transforming. He forgot that he was naked once he was finished, and stood up.

Harry flinched, and then covered his mouth. Jacob could see that he was shaking and that his eyes were smiling, though, and had to grin even as he curled into himself. They were both guys, true, but he didn't feel comfortable showing himself under such uneven circumstances.

"So…how long have you been attending school? I don't know what the legal age is in America and I've always wondered, since you guys have a much lower population of our kind." Harry scratched the back of his neck, rearranging himself on the floor so that he was sitting cross-legged. "We start when we're eleven, roughly, here."

"Oh." He still had no idea what he was talking about, so he sucked up his pride and asked, "Um, what kind of school are you talking about?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Oh…uh, well, how come you can you turn into a wolf at will like that? Does it run in your family or is it sort of something that you figured out?"

He rubbed his chin. "It was more like an accident, although it does run in my family…sort of. You know that I'm a Quileute, right?"

Harry shrugged. "You've mentioned it, yeah."

"Anyway, my tribe is supposedly descended from wolves, and I was raised hearing all kinds of crazy stories from my dad and his friends. I spent most of my life thinking that they were just that- stories. You know, part of my heritage and all that. But I guess there was more truth to them than I gave them credit for, because a couple weeks ago, this happened." He swept his hand around the clearing and down his own body. "I haven't told anybody: you're the first to know."

"I see." Harry nodded, mixed emotions playing out across his face. He looked relieved, but also disappointed. "Is there anything else funny about you other than the wolf thing? Is it affected by the moon at all?"

"Like a Werewolf? So far, no. and I haven't really noticed much change in myself except for how emotional I get. It's my temper that sets off the wolf."

Harry cocked his head. "Really? That's interesting. I never would have guessed that. Can you control it even when you're not angry, or are you like the Incredible Hulk?"

Jacob laughed. "Oh my god, I _am _like the Incredible Hulk! It happened when I saw that girl…" he trailed off, wondering if he should confess this. He decided to go for it. "When that girl kissed you, I got so mad I could've screamed. I felt like I was going to burst, so I got away from everyone and not a moment too soon. The second I hit the woods, I transformed. It hurt like a bitch the first twenty or so times, but it's gotten to the point where I can trigger it when I'm calm."

He nodded again. "Well, that's good. I mean, about the control thing." He flushed. "And sorry that she set you off- you must've missed the part where I pushed her off."

Jake was stunned. He thought that they'd had a little fling for sure. "Seriously? I thought you two were together for a little while."

Harry shook his head. "Nope. I haven't been 'with' anybody at all while I've been here. I…you're the only person that I want to be with." He suddenly seemed to realize what he'd said, because he straightened and steeled his expression. "I don't expect anything from you, though. You don't have to do anything about this- I just couldn't hide it anymore. I hope that we can still be friends, and that this doesn't make things too awkward between us, even though that isn't likely."

He sucked it up and leaned forward to place his large hands on Harry's shoulders. "But I expect things from _you. _You ran away before I could say this last night, but I want to be with you too. This whole wolf thing just helped me realize that- if it hadn't happened, I probably wouldn't have noticed what kind of feelings I have for you."

The brunette looked happy for several breathless seconds, and was even leaning in when something flashed through his eyes and he recoiled. "Oh, shit, I can't do this."

He was stunned. After he'd gone out on a limb and showed how he felt, not to mention his darkest, weirdest secret, Harry was going to be so selfish as to reject him? "What?" He whispered it, even his vocal cords in too much shock to function properly. "What do you mean? I like you and you like me, and there's no rule against two guys being together here. What's wrong? I thought you were okay with the wolf thing."

Harry brushed off his hands and stood, shakily wrapping his arms around himself. He suddenly looked very adult, and there was almost no sign of the boy that he still was. "I can't do this to you, Jacob. You're a wonderful person, and I'll ruin you."

"What do you mean, 'ruin me'?!" he demanded, leaping to his feet. He didn't give a damn if he was naked; Harry wasn't leaving this clearing without explaining himself first. "I want you, okay? And in case you didn't notice, you're pretty wonderful too. The way you think is so different from anybody else I've ever met, and that fascinates me. I don't mind that your family doesn't like you or that you're poor or whatever: _I want you."_

Harry just shook his head, biting his lip. "You don't get it. You don't know who I am, or what I am. I'm very sorry that I forgot about this too, and that was very unfair of me. Please, let me go and we'll forget that this ever happened."

Jake grabbed his arm before he could push his way through the underbrush. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

His jaw set and he raised his chin defiantly. "Away from here before one of us says or does something stupid and hurtful. Now, let go of me."

"No, not until you make up your mind. Jesus, Harry, you can't just give me these mixed signals!" He forced himself to stop for a moment and take some deep breaths to calm his inner wolf. "First you tell me that you love me, for fuck's sakes, and then you tell me that we can't be together after I ask you out? What the hell is going on in your head?"

He jerked his arm out of his hold. "I said I was sorry, Jake. I still love you, but I won't put you in danger by dating you."

Jake tried to process that, and then he remembered what Harry said about his parent's killer and just a few minutes ago about being kidnapped. What was going on…? "Harry, why would dating you put me in danger?"

Harry actually sobbed a little. "Remember the man who killed my parents…?"

"Yes." Jake replied instantly, something inside of him shriveling. He knew what Harry was going to say.

"He wasn't caught. He just went missing for ten years and then attacked me at my school- he's come after me multiple times, and just a couple of months ago my godfather was murdered while trying to fight for me. I won't let anybody else get killed for me, especially not you." Harry swiped at his face. "Do you understand the situation a little better now?"

He swallowed. He wanted to cry too, but held it together because he knew that Harry would crack completely if he didn't. "Yeah, but...but I think that I can afford that risk."

When he realized what he'd said, he stared openly at himself before he noticed that what he'd involuntarily said was the truth. He was willing to deal with the consequences, because Harry didn't deserve to be abandoned. If he was killed in a worst case scenario, his sisters could take care of dad.

Harry wasn't trying to get away from him anymore, and he found himself crossing the small patch of space between them. He carefully cupped his face, and then pulled him to his chest.

They were peaceful for a few moments, just soaking in everything that'd happened, when Harry giggled.

He frowned. "What's so funny?"

"You're still naked." Harry cheekily replied.

000

End chapter 16

FINALLY! And people wonder why I have issues dating men…


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

Meredith waved them over. "Hey, where were you two all day? You missed lunch!"

Jacob blushed, and Harry replied, "Ah, sorry about that. I took an unauthorized mental health day and Jake got worried about me because we had a bit of an argument last night. We made up though, so everything is okay."

She nodded. "I can understand that. I wish that mental health days were more common- I could use one whenever June here is having one of her PMS days."

June hissed something in German, and raised her soda threateningly over her much larger cousin's head. Meredith patted her hand as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Come on, June bug, it was just a joke; everything is okay!"

"No it is not!" She shrieked, flung down her soda, and stormed out of the cafeteria. Several wide-eyed students watched her go.

"Sorry about her. Why don't you two sit down? Those trays can get heavy." She nodded to their laden hands and scooted down the bench to make room for them. "If you don't mind my asking, what was your fight about?"

Harry smiled. "Just some silly old thing."

On the walk there, they'd decided to keep their relationship under wraps until they both had a better understanding of how they were going to make it work. With just a little over two weeks left before Harry would need to leave for Hogwarts and Jake already over-due to go home, they wanted to spend as much time with each other as possible. If they announced their relationship publicly, they would have to field questions from friends and strangers alike simply because they would be different from their peers.

They ate dinner quietly, allowing Meredith to dominate the conversation.

000

"Can you please turn the music off?"

"What, you don't like it?"

"No, I don't." Hermione peevishly rolled over onto her side, staring out across the orange vista of Ron's room. Ron reluctantly turned off the music station and put his face in his palms, looking down at her from his place on the bed.

"It's not the same without Harry here."

"Yeah." She sighed. "I wish…I wish that he wasn't the Boy Who Lived sometimes, so that we could just be normal and write him during the summer like other classmates can write each other."

Ron frowned. "But if Harry wasn't the Boy Who Lived, I never would've struck up a conversation with him in first year, and we never would've been friends and…bloody hell, he might've gotten sorted into Slytherin."

"Language, Ron." She rolled over onto her back and stared up at his low ceiling. "I'm bored."

He hummed. "We could play a game. Ginny should be done with her bath soon- she might want to play Exploding Snap or something."

Hermione shook her head. "No, I don't want to play that. I don't want to study…I don't want to read…I don't want to sleep…"

He raised his eyebrows, and then shrugged. Hermione got like this sometimes- one learned to accept her mood swings. He supposed that it was just as well that she sometimes didn't want to do anything, because most of the time she wanted to do everything.

Suddenly, she sat upright. "Hey, where is Harry anyway?"

He frowned. "What do you mean? He ought to be with those awful relatives of his."

She waved a hand. "No, he can't be…when Dumbledore came for tea with your dad and mum last week, he said something…oh, why can't I remember what it was?"

"Um."

She joined him on the bed. "That's no help, Ron. I can't believe that I didn't notice it at the time. It was just one of those weird things he says sometimes, and I brushed it off. Either way, I think that he was trying to say that he didn't know where Harry was."

"Merlin, that's unfortunate." Ron nodded empathetically, even though he still wasn't sure what she was on about. "Let's hope that he hasn't done a runner again, like he did in 3rd year."

"Yeah."

Just then, an owl flew onto the window sill and pecked on the glass, hooting indignantly. She ruffled her white feathers when Hermione took a while to open the window, and Hermione shrieked when she realized that it was Hedwig. The owl was looking more disheveled than usual, and she'd gained some weight.

There was a message tied to her foot, which Hermione removed gleefully. "Speak of the devil, eh?"

Ron just took the letter out of her hands and tore it open. "Come on, no need to dally, 'Mione."

"Read it aloud!"

He cleared his throat. "It's for you, by the way. _Hermione, I am unable to buy my own supplies this year, so could you please purchase them for me whenever you go? I know that you can't have gone yet because we've only just gotten our letters. I'm sorry that this is kind of sudden, and I won't be able to reimburse you until possibly Christmas, maybe later, but I trust that you'll do me this favor. I miss you and Ron a lot, but I am still having a good time and learning a lot. I'll see you at the Platform in two weeks!" _Ron was about to fold it up when he noticed a postscript. "Oh, and he says that we needn't bother writing back."

Neither of them said anything for a while. Ron spoke first.

"Where is he?"

"Fucked if I know."

Ron turned red. "Hermione!"

"What? Oh, I see. Boys can swear but girls can't? Ha, I like that!"

He waved his hands. "No, that's not what I meant! I was just surprised-"

She cut him short. "We should show this to Dumbledore. Maybe he can use this to find Harry." She held out her hand, and he gave her the letter. She grinned at him. "I don't feel so bored anymore. Are we getting spoiled by all the trouble Harry stirs up?"

"Probably, yeah. I've got to tell you, though, that once this is all over, I am blaming him for my stress disorders or whatever Muggles call them." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sure that I'm going gray."

000

Remus slammed both palms on the desk, fury rolling off of his despite his best efforts to rein his temper in. "I can't believe this! What if he doesn't show up at the Platform? We'll never know what became of him! Harry could be anywhere, and yet all you do is just sit here and drink tea!"

Dumbledore twinkled calmly at him from behind the safety of his desk, and added another sugar lump to his tea. "Remus, I can understand why you're upset, but we have to have faith in your godson. Harry has proven that he can take care of himself when he needs to, and he did go through the trouble of writing to his friends to have them get his school things for him. Harry wouldn't have asked them to expend their time and their, or her, money for no reason."

The werewolf groaned and sank back into the comfortable arm chair summoned by the Headmaster at the beginning of their meeting. Tonks reached over and patted his knee.

"Dumbledore is right. Harry might have gone through some… tough times, but he can handle being on his own. Sure, it isn't what we want him to be doing, especially with the way the Dark Lord has been acting, but he seems to be okay." She turned to the Headmaster. "Have you figured out why we can't track him, sir?"

He shook his head. "No, I have not made any progress on that front. This is by far one of the strangest anomalies I have ever encountered. It is almost as if there is something covering him, hiding him from our sight."

Remus groaned. "That does _not _sound comforting."

"I know, Remus, and I am as upset about this as you are. Harry's safety is of paramount importance to all of us." Dumbledore blew on his tea and delicately took a sip. "However, we have other matters to attend to. I have been researching the various ways by which Tom Riddle may have acquired immortality, or tried to, and there is one method that I find extremely likely."

Tonks nodded. "Okay, and what is that?"

"Horcruxes."

000

Harry and Jacob lay sprawled on the floor of the forest instead of in their customary stations in the recreation room. Jacob swished nocturnal insects away with his tail while Harry lazily stroked his neck, humming under his breath.

"I like you like this." Harry murmured, turning to press his nose to the warm fur collar. "You seem to peaceful, like all of that nervous energy you carry around is gone. And it helps that you can't talk."

Jake swatted him with his paw and Harry laughed, batting it away with the flat of his hand. On a whim, he transformed back into a human. Harry didn't blush, but calmly met his eyes and smoothed a hand through his long hair.

"Your hair got longer since we met."

"I guess so." Jake tucked his face into his folded arms, enjoying the feeling of grass and moss cushioning his front. "So did yours. You look like one of those long-haired poodles."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, sorry. I meant that it looks kind of half-funny, half-cute."

Harry scowled. "Neither of those helps my poor ego."

"Sorry again."

"You're going to be sorry for the rest of your life at this rate."

He shrugged. "I don't care, as long as it gives me an excuse to talk to you."

Harry flicked his nose. "Pah, you're laying it on rather thick. Syrup can never win against substance, so there isn't much of a point in you saying these kinds of things after we both know how we feel about each other."

"It's because you're worth it."

Harry burst into giggles, which he tried to make manlier but failed to. "Stop, stop!" He subsided, and the peace of the evening reigned once again. "It's awfully noisy with all these crickets around."

"Hm." Jacob hummed, eyes fixed on Harry instead of the softly glowing scenery. The moon wasn't overhead yet, but it was full and shone brightly. He cautiously leaned forward, well aware of how skittish Harry was.

Finally realizing that Jacob was looking at him and not the trees, Harry focused his wide eyes on him. Jake spoiled this by gently taking off his glasses and laying them reverently on the grass beside them. He raised himself onto his elbows and scooted forward until he could press their foreheads together. Harry wasn't breathing.

He tilted his head, and touched his mouth to Harry's cheek. It was so faint that Harry barely felt it- a butterfly landing on him would have been more sensational. Jake swallowed. "Was…was that okay?"

Harry, at a loss for words and in the middle of a very unwanted flashback of Cho sobbing, nodded weakly. Jake gave him a quick, nervous smile and then kissed his cheek again, with considerably more force. No objections were made, so he boldly brushed his mouth against the corner of Harry's, marveling at how this was both like and unlike how he thought kissing would be.

"That felt nice."

"Oh!"

Harry was smiling at him, eyes slightly unfocused without his glasses. "That was your first, wasn't it?"

Jake reddened and looked away. "Maybe," he said in a small voice. "But I'm glad that I gave it to you and not somebody I didn't really care about."

Two calloused hands touched his face gently. "I'm glad too."

000

End chapter 17


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

Aleksey grabbed Harry's arm as he came out of the showers. "Harry, can I talk to you?"

Confused, he nodded. "Of course."

They were alone in the dorms, since Harry told Jacob to go along with the other boys to breakfast so that he could work of getting the rest of the leaves out of his hair. They'd perhaps gotten a little carried away last night on the forest floor and were too tired by the time they skidded into their dorms to shower at the time.

He sat down on the floor by his bunk and finished toweling his hair dry. Setting the towel aside, he finger-combed his hair and waited for Aleksey to say what was on his mind.

"Harry…"

"Yes?" He pulled on his socks and patted blindly underneath his bed, looking for his sneakers.

"Are you…I mean; is…how…are Jacob and you finally being honest with one another?"

Harry paused in his spider-crawl search and turned to look at him. "Well, we're trying not to advertise it too much because of the contained nature of this camp, but yes, we acknowledged our…" He coughed, suddenly feeling very strange about saying this out loud. It didn't help that Aleksey was staring at him with mixed emotion. If his friend took this badly, things would not end well. "Anyway, we're together."

Aleksey mulled over this, chewing his lower lip intently. At last he said, "Okay."

He blinked, surprised. "What, that's it?"

"Yes, although I wish that you told me without me having to ask." Aleksey put one burly arm around him and squeezed. "I am happy for you."

"Thanks!"

000

After breakfast, he separated from Jake to attend his neglected Basic Art class. It was interesting, and it filled the time, but his experience with it was dampened by the dim thought that he might never have a chance to use his newfound appreciation for art. Voldemort consumed his life when he was at school, and loomed behind his eyelids when he wasn't. There was a good chance that he would die before he even graduated.

He shook away his depressing thoughts and tried to focus on the color wheel that Mrs. Glenburg was patiently explaining. He obediently tried to imitate the colors on the display on his own paper.

Someone nudged him, and he turned to raise an eyebrow at Nathaniel. They were the only boys in the class, so they sat together at the back.

"What?" He hissed.

"I heard that you and Jake are going out."

His eyes widened. "W-what…what makes you think that?"

Nathaniel sighed, exasperated. "Harry, it was stupidly obvious that you two were pining away for each other, and then all of a sudden you're both not acting like assholes anymore and smiling at each other all the time. What else was I supposed to think?"

Harry took this in. "Was it really that obvious?"

"Yeah. It was almost painful to watch, and I had to hold a couple different people back from just yelling at you two to get a room already. I mean, shit, did you guys have to be so indecisive about it?"

Mrs. Glenburg sent them a disapproving glance from the front of the room when Nathaniel's voice rose a little bit higher than the acceptable whisper, and they bowed their heads over their paper for several minutes to appease her. Mrs. Glenburg was practically bipolar- one minute she was as warm as could be, and the next she was descending on you like a thundercloud. It was extremely nerve-wracking.

When they considered it safe again, Nathaniel leaned in and whispered, "So what made you two get together?"

Harry finished shading the blue to the color he wanted, and replied softly, "I told first, but I got scared and ran. He looked for me the next day, and we met up in the woods. It just kind of snowballed from there. Why are you so interested? I thought you were straight."

Nathaniel looked offended. "Hey, I don't have to be gay to care about you. Its kind of like a car crash- I just had to know how it happened."

Harry growled and elbowed him warningly in the stomach. "Don't call our relationship a car wreck. That's mean."

"What are you, a grade-schooler?"

They glared at each other and didn't speak for the rest of the class.

000

"Black, there's a phone call for you!"

Jacob froze mid-kick and stumbled slightly. He recovered and kicked the ball to another player, making his way towards the staff member.

"Did they say who it was?" he asked breathlessly, pushing some of his hair out of his face. He really needed to cut it- it was so thick that it destroyed most elastic bands after just a few hours.

"No, but it's a woman." Jeff held the door to the staff office open for Jacob with a smile. "Maybe it's your mom."

"My mom's dead." Jacob retorted, smoothly picking up the receiver and turning away from Jeff before he could see his horrified face and laugh. His mother's death wasn't something that he normally thought about, since he preferred to focus on the positive side of life, but it did prove useful when it came to flabbergasting strangers. "Hello?"

"Jake? Hi! It's Bella."

He gaped dumbly into open air. With everything that'd happened lately, especially with Harry, he'd completely forgotten about her. Unrequited ex-crush or not, she was still his best female friend and would probably want to know how he was.

"B-Bella! Hi!"

She giggled. "It's so good to hear your voice: you sound so surprised. Oh, guess what happened!"

"Um…what?" He shifted his weight and stared at the carpet. His feet were dirty and had left faint dusty tracks across the office, not that any of the sleepy-looking counselors were likely to tell him off. They looked like they would do anything for a stronger fan.

"I'm getting married!"

She might as well have punched him in the solar plexus- it would've been less surprising and hurt less.

"Really?" He croaked, sounding more like a toad than a human being. "Dare I ask to whom?"

She laughed. "Oh, Jake, you're too funny. I'm marrying Edward, of course! He proposed at this very romantic restaurant two days ago…oh my god, I was even drinking champagne. It was so beautiful."

He cleared his throat. "I'm so happy for you!" he cast around trying to think of what she would want him to ask. "What does the ring look like?"

"I am so glad you asked that! It's this gorgeous gold band with, like, 20 diamonds set into it. My name is engraved on the inside, and he says that he'll have his name put in next to it after we get married, and mine next to his ring." She sighed. "Isn't that romantic?"

He pandered with the idea that that might have been a rhetorical question, but decided to answer anyway. He was aware in the background of his mind that she'd been proposed to _two days ago, _and yet she hadn't tried to tell him before now. "Yeah, that is really romantic. Edward and you are…um…totally meant to be together."

She cooed. "Do you really think so?"

"Of course!" His voice cracked. He wondered what kind of children they would have, if Vampire sperm still worked. He frowned. Wait…if Vampires were dead, then they should be infertile, right? If Vampires were having babies, he would've heard about it…right?

"I hate to go now, but I have a plane to catch back home. I'll talk to you later!"

"Bye." He listlessly hung up, and leaned against the wall. What the hell was she thinking? She wasn't even eighteen yet, and she was already engaged to a guy almost a hundred years older than her. He groaned, covered his eyes, and left the office.

Hopefully she wouldn't want him to be a bridesmaid or something stupid like that.

He stalked off in the direction of the cafeteria, since the soccer (or football) game was over by now and lunch would be starting in about ten minutes. On the way, Harry merged into the path beside him and slipped his hand into Jake's larger one. He squeezed it and smiled up at him, glowing in the sunlight.

Jake flushed, and forgot all about Bella for the next several hours.

000

End chapter 18

Gah! Short, I know, but I tired!


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

"Well, if it the little runaway." Doris greeted him warmly, saluting him with her foam cup. From the smell, he guessed that it was her typical black coffee. "I didn't think that I would be seeing you again so soon- are you already having problems with your boyfriend?"

Harry shook his head vehemently. "Nothing of the sort; I just wanted to come visit for a little while Jacob handles his females. They're not happy with him for ignoring them in favor of me, apparently."

Doris guffawed, spilling some coffee onto her lap. "Oh, the poor darlings, they won't know what'll hit them."

He sat down beside her on the sofa and held her coffee for her while she dabbed at her skirt with a handkerchief she'd pulled out of nowhere. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that relationships tend to consume the mind and, well, take away the time that you might've had for others. They're very distracting matters." She tucked her handkerchief into her bra and took her coffee back. "But enough of that depressing stuff- I want to hear about your sugary sweet love!"

He blushed and looked away from her. "Do you have to put it like that? I feel like I'm seven and having a sandbox crush, not embarking on the scariest thing I've ever done."

She patted his knee apologetically. "Sorry, dear. Do tell, though. Shy or not, I want to know!"

"Believe it or not, there isn't much to tell. We finally sorted ourselves out, and we aren't scared to show each other how we feel anymore, but we haven't done anything drastic."

"I see." She demurely sipped her coffee. "So…there's been no talk of moving in together, getting a civil partnership, or adopting children yet?"

Harry choked. "How can you say that so casually? We've only been together for two days!"

"Ah, get used to it. You might not have family, but Jacob does. He has sisters, right? I'd brace myself if I were you. You might find yourself getting a very stern talking-to about treating their brother right."

He chewed his lip. "I suppose you're right, but I don't think that I'll ever get to meet his family."

Doris froze mid-sip. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I only have two weeks left here with Jake before I go to school, which is non-negotiable before you ask, and Jake goes home to America and his normal life. I'm not saying that we can't make a long-distance relationship work, but I am saying that it isn't likely to last very long…" He swallowed. "Not with the way I live."

She laid one broad, soft hand on his shoulder. "Honey, you've hinted at things from time to time and I've turned a blind ear because it's not my business, but are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Yeah, you could say that." He relaxed back into the sofa, allowing the cushions to swallow him into a musty, lump-filled embrace.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." She soothed, reaching for his hair but pausing half-way there. She dropped her hand back into her lap.

"Why did you pause like that?" Harry asked, closing his eyes and breathing deeply through his nose. It was distressing for him to think of the dismal future that awaited his relationship with Jacob. He wanted to stop thinking about it before his magic acted out and blew something up. Why did everything he held precious have to be endangered?

"I don't think that your young man would be too happy if he busted in here and caught me petting your pretty little curls, so I won't do it. I always say that there's no need to take chances if there isn't a decent reason for it." She smiled vaguely and looked out the window.

Neither of them spoke for the rest of their 'session', which lasted until someone with more ordinary problems came in and Harry left to give them some privacy.

000

There were perks to being a Dark Lord, but there were also considerable draw-backs. One of them was that the position seemed to come with a built-in sniveling minion feature.

He wrinkled his flat nostrils at Wormtail as he came crawling into his make-shift throne room. No words were exchanged after he waved his hand to silence any flatteries that Wormtail might try to lavish on him, and he simply extended his hand, silently ordering Wormtail.

His minion held out his shaking arm, and he cruelly shoved back the thin fabric of his robe and touched his wand to his Dark Mark, summoning only the members of his Inner Circle, the most trusted of his followers.

One by one, they appeared with soft 'pops'. His eyes narrowed when he saw that he was missing one. A quick examination of their magical cores through their Marks revealed that Lucius was the one who hadn't showed.

"Where is Malfoy?" He snapped, letting his displeasure be known through the casting of a Crucio on Wormtail.

There were confused murmurs all around until Rodolphus spoke up, saying, "No one has seen him at all this past week, my Lord. Not since we moved from his home to this place."

He hissed something in Parseltongue under his breath, and Nagini stroked his fingertips with her tongue, doing her best to soothe him. He calmed himself and lightly stroked the top of her scaly head appreciatively. When all else failed him, he knew that he could rely in her absolute loyalty. She was often the only thing that kept him in any form of functioning insanity.

"Very well. Bellatrix, select and dispatch some of our more skilled new recruits to track him down. Make sure that they know that I will be very displeased if he or his wife is killed before their bank information has been obtained. We still require their funds."

She grinned. "Of course, my Lord; would you have me commence now or after our meeting?"

"You are dismissed."

"Thank you, my Lord." She sidled up and kissed his robe before leaving in a swirl of rotting fabric. Prison really hadn't done much for her.

Once everyone was settled again, he indicated the wide oak table that he arranged his maps upon. "On that is the outline and locations of the first of our final barrage of attacks. I am sure that we can bring the Ministry, and the Wizarding World, to its knees this time." He grinned. "And I shall kill Potter at last."

Fenrir, snuffling, pawed through the maps and detailed instructions, yellow eyes scanning faster than any of his other confidants.

"King's Cross station, my Lord?"

"Precisely, and in two weeks time, just as the innocent youth of our world are heading off to school. I know that Potter will be there, and that is why we shall strike hard and fast. It is unfortunate that the loss of some of our Pureblood youth shall result, but it is a necessary sacrifice. Our world must be purged."

His followers nodded, murmuring agreement amongst themselves.

"That is a brilliant idea, my Lord."

He smiled again. "I am pleased that you think so. Review your packets thoroughly between now and then- I will not tolerate a single mistake from any of you, no matter the circumstances. You are all dismissed."

000

Harry and Jacob met up during the afternoon and went looking for their special spot in the forest.

Jacob took off his shoes and tied their laces together so that he could loop them around his neck. He had two pairs of sneakers when he first appeared at camp and destroyed one of them during his first transformation- he had no desire to board a plane back to Forks in flip-flops.

Almost shyly, he looked down at Harry. His boyfriend (it was so strange to think of him as that!) was humming some popular tune under his breath, swinging their joined hands in time with the bridge. He smiled softly and separated their hands to run his fingers through Harry's hair gently.

"Your bangs, or fringe as you call it, are getting long. I can't see your scar anymore."

"And that's a bad thing?" Harry joked.

He knew that he was self-conscious about the scar, since he'd gotten it the night his parents were murdered. He wondered if Harry would've felt differently about it if it didn't represent such a profound loss. After all, having a lightning bolt in the middle of your forehead was kind of cool in a weird way.

"Hey, I like all of you. Can you blame me for wanting to see as much as I can?" Jake replied, laughing and dodging the fist that came swinging playfully at his head.

"Oh, you pervert. Am I going to find you peeping at me in the shower from now on?"

Jake widened his eyes innocently. "Are you saying that you haven't noticed me doing that already?"

Harry turned so red it looked painful. "W-what?!"

"Relax, I'm kidding." He laughed again and bent his head to press a quick kiss to Harry's temple. "I wouldn't invade your privacy like that without asking first. My sisters pounded the concept of personal space into my head so well that I'd probably be more embarrassed than you."

He smiled softly down at him when Harry perked up.

"Well, alright." harry shrugged. "Not that you looking would really be a big deal. I share a room and shower with four other boys at my school, so it's not like I'm shy of that. I'm just uncomfortable with you looking at me _too closely _just yet."

Jake spluttered, utterly missing the second half of what Harry said. "You don't care about people seeing you naked?"

Harry blinked. "That's not it at all! I'm just not nervous." He gestured his torso with a sweeping move. "I mean, almost everyone has two arms, two legs, a torso, and the inevitable fancy bits. It doesn't really become a big deal until you care about that person, which is when their body has anymore meaning than a peeled potato."

They reached their clearing and Jacob plopped down on the ground, seizing Harry and pulled him onto his lap before he could think of sitting anywhere else.

"Well, you don't have to make it sound so unromantic. I don't think there's anything potato-like about you." He gave him a little squeeze, and Harry snickered.

"No, I suppose not, but you know what I mean."

He sighed and pressed his nose into the back of Harry's neck. A certain manic feeling had been pumping through his veins ever since Meredith mentioned off-handedly that she and her cousin would be leaving at the end of the week to go back to Germany. It made him realize how truly limited the time was that he had left here. Once they left this camp, all the usual responsibilities and distractions would settle in again. He would never get another chance to be with Harry in such a carefree way. They would never be this young or undisturbed again, even if they did end up settling down together later on, once Harry was done with school.

He inhaled deeply and kissed his neck. He didn't want this to end.

Harry sniffled suddenly, and squeezed Jacob's hands so hard that Jacob gasped a little. He often forgot, because of their size difference, that Harry possessed strange depths of physical strength that were often motivated by his emotions.

"What's wrong?"

Harry shook his head and raised one of Jake's hands to kiss his wrist. "Nothing."

"No, tell me." He pleaded, brushing Harry's fringe back and turning his head so that Harry had to look at him. "What's upsetting you?"

"I just…we have so little time to be happy like this, and I can't help but think about leaving, going back to school, in so little time from now. I wish that we could be happy together for the rest of camp without thinking about separating."

He sighed and tucked his head into Harry's shoulder. "I was just thinking about that. I think that we should at least try to be carefree."

Harry nodded, hesitated, and then twisted his neck like a snake so that he could maneuver himself near enough to kiss him.

"Alright."

000

End chapter 19


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

They crept into their dormitory several hours after they were supposed to be back, still a little sweaty from wrestling playfully in the woods. Jacob's wolf was _strong. _

Before Jacob could sweep past him to go to his bed, Harry caught hold of his wrist and gripped it. He must've grabbed harder than he thought because Jacob winced. He released him and lightly stroked the possibly bruised area.

"What is it?" Jacob asked softly.

"Let's share this time." Harry suggested in a whisper, indicating his bed.

Jacob flushed, but seemed to like the idea. "Yeah, okay, but shouldn't we sleep in my bed? You've got Aleksey above you and I haven't got anybody, so this would make less of a fuss in mine."

Harry nodded. "Okay. Just let me preen myself first and then I'll come join you."

Swallowing, Jake got ready for bed and climbed into his bunk. His bed had never seemed quite so small before, and he wondered how he and Harry were both going to fit in it. They were going to have some serious shoulder pain tomorrow unless…unless Harry slept on top of him or something. His face felt hot in the gloom, and he gripped the front of his pajama shirt, flapping it a little to help cool him down before Harry rejoined him.

They'd messed around in the forest, since they stuck to hand-holding in public for the sake of decency and their own privacy (neither of them felt the need to shove themselves in other people's faces), but as far as they'd gone was Harry removing his shirt. He squirmed, and then held still when the bathroom door creaked open and Harry slipped out.

He watched as Harry moved silently among the beds to deposit his toothbrush in his trunk, and then raised himself on his elbows when Harry turned and began to come towards him.

"Hi." Harry whispered.

"Hi." He whispered back hoarsely, and desperately tried to get his hormones under control. It would be bad form, as Harry would say, for them to get a little too excited about sharing a bed. "Come on in."

Harry smiled, teeth glinting faintly in the reflected light seeping into the gloomy dormitory. "Can't you move over any more?"

He shook his head. "No, sorry. I've been getting those growth spurts lately, and you know how tall I am now, and-"

"Ssh, it's okay." Harry quieted his babbling, getting a grip on the covers and slipping somehow into the bed, one leg slung over Jacobs'. He snuggled close and pressed his mouth to the skin between his neck and shoulder, just above his thyroid. "Are you comfortable?"

Jacob whimpered a little, tried to fight his urge, but had to surrender. He lightly ran his palm down Harry's calf, and then back up, scratching lightly with his nails this time. Harry tensed his leg muscles and snickered quietly.

"Pawing at me?"

"Shut up." He squeezed Harry's ankle lightly. "Your calves are strong- do you run or something when I'm not looking?"

Harry shrugged. "I did a lot of that growing up, but not a lot lately."

They laid there for an indeterminate amount of time, during which Jacob repeatedly lost his internal battle. His hands simply did not want to stay away, and even ventured as far as Harry's upper thigh before Harry let out a squeak and confided that he was ticklish there.

"This is nice." Jacob hummed, taking his hand away from Harry's leg to card it through Harry's hair. "And you smell good."

Harry laughed quietly into his bare shoulder, eye mischievous in the light. "Gee, you sure slather it on thick."

He huffed. "Well, you rarely compliment _me _so-"

Harry was frowning. "Do I really neglect you that way?"

"No, no, I didn't mean it that way." He kissed the top of Harry's head and, impulsively, his lips. "I was just joking around."

"I _do _think you're gorgeous, though." Harry protested. "You're beautiful in a way that nobody else I know can compare to."

His face fairly burned, and he was suddenly ecstatic that it was so dim in there. "T-Thanks."

Just as the blood was leaving his face, Harry levered himself around so that he was lying almost completely on top of him, with his leg dangling over the opposite side of the bed. He shimmied up Jake's chest until he could feel his hot breath against his face, and then he lowered his weight and relaxed onto him, consciously turning his muscles to butter. Jake's pulse was fluttering frantically, and his breathing had sped up.

Harry wanted to smile, but chose not to so that he wouldn't look cruel. He was just as shy as Jake was about the physical side of their relationship, but it was an irrational fear that he planned to tackle. How was he supposed to defeat the Dark Lord if he couldn't even work up the nerve to turn on his boyfriend?

"Is this okay?" He brushed his lips against Jacob's, and felt long arms wrap possessively around his back and hips.

"Yes."

"Good, because wild horses couldn't get me off of you. why haven't we done this before?"

Jake wrinkled his nose. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that your chest isn't hard at all. It's, like, the perfect kind of firm." Harry sighed blissfully and nuzzled his cheek against a pectoral. "I always thought that guys with torsos like yours would be all stiff and uncomfortable, but this is almost…" he prodded his pectoral. "it's almost squishy. I like it, a lot."

"Too bad you're too scrawny to return the favor." Jake teased, and Harry pulled his hair lightly for it.

"Hey now, I'm the one in the correct position to knee you in the groin."

"Aw, you wouldn't do that to me, would you?" Jake pouted. "I thought you liked my manly parts."

"Oh, but I do." Harry didn't recognize the sound of his own voice, which at that moment sounded more like a cross between a smoker and a cat than a teenage boy.

Jake squirmed beneath him, and his eyes widened when he felt evidence of the effect that his voice had had on him.

"Harry…"

"Yes?" He'd already shifted things up a gear, so there couldn't be much point in delaying the next shift. He hummed against Jacob's chin and gently nibbled on it. "Yes, Jake?"

"Um…" He squeaked. "Is this a good idea? I mean, everyone is asleep but they won't be tomorrow."

Harry moved his hips by accident, intending to get close enough to fiddle with Jake's ears, and found himself flipped over. Quite suddenly, he was pressed tightly between a flat mattress and a very flushed boyfriend, whose hands had taken up a bruising grip on his hips.

"Never mind; I've changed my mind." He whispered.

000

End chapter 20

Stupidly short, but life continues to intervene like the ultimate cock block.


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

Harry awoke breathless and with a crick in his shoulder blades. Cracking one eye open, he peeked around and found a ring of grinning dorm mates surrounding his bunk.

"What…?"

Aleksey, apparently the spokesman, replied, "I can see that you and Jacob decided to stop tiptoeing around each other."

Suddenly awake, he realized that he was not in his own bunk, and that the reason he was breathless was because Jacob was sprawled completely on top of him, soft snores ruffling his hair.

"Oh god."

Aleksey grinned. "Yes. But I think that we shall leave you alone now, yes? We hope to see you at breakfast, but we will not be surprised if you have some trouble getting out of bed."

Harry scowled and would've thrown a pillow at him if his arms weren't pinned by Jacob's. "Fine."

Amid snickers and murmured comments about their sex drives, their dorm mates dispersed. Harry was surprised that there hadn't been one disgusted face, but he supposed that the humor of the situation would be enough to set any naysayers at ease.

Left alone with his sleeping boyfriend, Harry took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Surprisingly, the sensation of being slowly crushed to death was pleasant. He hummed softly and lifted his head just a bit and lightly kissed Jake's cheek. Jake mumbled in his sleep and turned away from him to burrow his face into his side of the pillow, tightening his grip on Harry's hip.

He went back to sleep.

Half an hour later, Jake jolted awake to the unpleasant sensation of someone's elbow jabbing into his ribs.

"Ow, damn it!"

And then he froze, because his mattress didn't feel like much of a mattress and…oh. Last night he'd…

He stared at Harry's profile with awe. They said that you never forgot your first, and he didn't think that the illuminated contours of Harry's beautiful face would ever leave his head. The memories of how they'd met on such a sour note and how things had gotten sweeter and sweeter swelled within his chest, and suddenly he was gasping for breath. Harry was golden and his eyes were opening and he smiled at him like a young child.

"Good morning."

"Hello." He whispered back, knowing that it wasn't the proper greeting but not capable of remembering anything else to say. He was fortunate that it was a greeting at all and not some disjointed jumble of consonants like the steady stream buzzing through his mind. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Last night, had they really…?

Harry brushed some of his hair behind his ear. "Are you hungry? We're going to have to run if you want to eat before lunchtime."

"N-No, I'd rather just lie here with you for as long as we can."

Harry smiled broadly, and then bit his lip. "Um, about last night…do you have any regrets?"

He was flabbergasted. People actually _regretted _losing their virginity to people they were in love with? The concept flew completely over his head. He shook his head mutely.

"Good. Me neither."

They touched their noses together, and Harry drifted back into sleep, his soft breaths lulling Jake into a haze of contentment. He sort of understood why sex was such an obsession now.

000

Doris looked up from her book to see not one boy but two standing framed in her doorway. She grinned at Harry and nodded at his companion. "You must be Jacob Black."

"Yeah; it's, uh, nice to meet you."

She crinkled her eyes at him. "It's a pleasure, sweetheart. I've heard so much about you that I feel as though we've met already. Why don't you boys have a seat? Have some tea while you're at it. The pot there is full." She indicated a steaming tea pot with daisies clumsily painted on it and a short stack of Styrofoam cups.

Harry poured two cups, added a copious amount of sugar to one, and handed the unsweetened one to Jacob, who nodded his thanks.

Her eyes flicked between them, and she tucked her book away.

"Alright, what happened?"

"Nothing!" Harry hissed. "I just figured that you two ought to meet, since you're the only friend that I have who Jake hasn't met yet and I know all of his friends."

"Oh, I see." She smirked. "So this doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you have both recently become sexually active?"

Jacob blurted, "How can you tell?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, honey, I can see the evidence as plain as day. For one, neither of you has stopped touching the other since you came into sight."

Harry guiltily withdrew his hand from Jacob's knee, but his boyfriend seized it and replaced it on his thigh.

"And for another, you both look relaxed as hell. Harry here, who I'm used to seeing, is on the twitchy side. He's got paranoia issues, as you most likely already know. But for once, he hasn't looked around once and looks as though he's gotten a full night of sleep even though I'm sure you didn't." she poured herself some tea while Harry sputtered and Jacob started whispering questions that she couldn't fully hear.

"What do you mean…haven't been sleeping…why didn't you say something?"

She sighed. "Listen, sex is a wonderful thing, so both of you just relax. My only concern is that you both understand the risks involved health-wise in same-sex relationships."

Jacob squirmed, and Harry looked almost guilty.

"Um…"

"You _did _use a contraceptive, right?"

"Well…"

She groaned and leaned back into her armchair. "Are you kidding me?"

"No, but I have been proven to be highly resilient when it comes to my health." Harry piped up. Jacob turned to look at him, obviously not knowing that beforehand. Harry nodded at him. "Yeah, I've never even gotten a cold."

"Wow. I didn't know that about you."

"Unfortunately, that means nothing in the world of STDs." Doris broke in before they could get lost in each other's eyes or something equally teenager-like. Young love had its perks, but some aspects of it were ridiculous. "Listen, I'm willing to procure condoms for you if you pay me back. My money doesn't grow on a tree, and I need to get some things at a pharmacist's anyway."

Jake laughed a little. "Ah, have you got a man tucked away somewhere?"

Harry choked and smacked him in the leg. "Hey! I don't want to know the answer to that!"

Doris just laughed. "Sorry, kiddo, but your boyfriend already opened the door. It's nothing steady, but yeah, I have been seeing somebody. Not that that would be of any interest to you young bucks."

"You're absolutely right." Harry scowled, and struggled slightly when Jacob pulled him into his arms and kissed the top of his head. "Don't think that you can get away with this by coddling me, Jake."

She sighed a little, looking between the two of them. Suddenly, she picked up on something else that she hadn't noticed before. There was something _more _in Jacob's eyes when he looked at Harry, and although she tried to dismiss it as love, she knew that there was an edge to it that most love, which was often fleeting and irrational, did not have. The look in his eyes would never fade; she knew this in the base of her spine and in that beating thing leaping inside her chest.

She swallowed painfully and looked away. Hopefully Harry's feelings for this boy were more than superficial, because anything less than love would break Jacob.

000

End chapter 21

I have a reasonable excuse for the length! I was working!


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

There was a small farewell ceremony for the departing students at the end of every month that you could choose to attend of your own volition, although most came for the ice cream. Any others that weren't personal friends of the departing students came out of curiosity- this was the only time that you could get the chance to see the man who owned the camp.

He had a very impressive mustache.

Harry stood stiffly beside Aleksey, uncomfortable being so exposed to the eyes of his fellow peers. The bench that they would sit on once they were allowed to sit at all dug into the backs of his bare calves.

They sat when the headmaster raised his hands.

While the mustached man spoke a skeletal speech that could have been used in a variety of situations due to its vague and impersonal wording, his eyes wandered through the sparse audience. Jacob sat in the front row; hands tightly clenched in his lap and lip a thin line. He wasn't happy about their time ending anymore than Harry was, but he wasn't nearly as covert about it. Displeasure floated over him like a cartoon storm cloud.

As though he felt Harry watching him, Jake turned his head away from the headmaster and crossed his eyes at Harry. He snorted, loudly, and had to cover his good humor by bowing his head and feigning tears. Aleksey patted his knee and handed him a tissue. He pretended to blow his nose, locking eyes with his boyfriend through his lashes.

Aleksey had to prod him in the ribs when his name was called and he was surprised to find a paper certificate awarding him the first place for 'Most Creative Wood Carving'. He didn't know that there was a prize to begin with, much less that his 4-inch depiction of Hedwig would win him one.

They were dismissed, and he shuffled down the steps with the rest of the boys. Jacob touched his elbow and smiled at him.

"Do I get to see this wood thing?"

Harry grinned salaciously. "You can see _a _wood thing-"

He burst into guffaws and leaned his head against Harry's shoulder. "Oh, don't say such things; not in the presence of the children, Harry." He waved to Aleksey, who grumbled something in Russian and back-handed him lightly.

"Anyway, yeah, you can see it." Harry replied to his fading question. "Actually…why don't you take it with you, as a present from me?"

Jake blinked at him, wide-eyed. "Really?"

"Yeah." Harry slipped his hand into his. "Why not? You ought to have something from me, now that I think about it."

"But…what am I going to give you?"

Harry shrugged. "You don't have to give me anything."

They walked outside and the sun beat down upon their shoulders. It was one o'clock, and they had several hours until dinner to spend together undisturbed.

"I want to give you something, though."

Harry looked up at him and shook his head to jerk some of his fringe out of his eyes. Damn, his hair was getting annoying these days. "You could make me a paper swan or something. I don't care what it is, if you have to get me something after all. Just knowing that it's from you will be enough for me."

His boyfriend bit his lip, thinking. What did he have that he could give to Harry? He couldn't give him a car, and he didn't have any pictures of himself, naked or otherwise. And then he remembered something that he'd had for a long time, and had never showed to anyone, not even Quil and Embry.

"Hey, let's go to the dorms. I know what to give you, and you can give me the owl."

000

Leaves in his hair, Jacob in his mouth, and fingers on his neck. He was in heaven. He groaned, and lifted his hands from Jacob's hips to his shoulders, squeezing to show that he needed some air.

Jacob backed off reluctantly, sucking in air sullenly. He bent his head a second later and nuzzled Harry's neck gently, mumbling something.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I don't want to be separated from you."

He sighed and opened his eyes to stare at the fading sunlight. Tomorrow morning Aunt Marge was coming to take him away from here, and the Dursleys would have him by the day after that, and then he would go back to Hogwarts. At Hogwarts…there was so much that he didn't want to even think about connected to his school, the Dark Lord merely one amongst others. If his classmates hated him last year when all that'd happened was the Tournament and Cedric's death, how on earth would they receive him after what happened at the Ministry?

"What are you thinking about? You've gone as stiff as a board." Jake's lips brushed his neck as he spoke, and he punctuated his words with a smacking caress.

"I was thinking about being so far from you."

"I'll write you, though. Are you sure that your school doesn't have any telephones, not even in the staff rooms?" Jake raised himself onto his elbows and brushed Harry's hair out of his face, bending his head to peck his lightning bolt scar. Harry tilted his head back and kissed his mouth before answering.

"Positive. It's a very old-fashioned school. The girls have to wear long skirts as uniforms and everything."

Jacob laughed a little. "That's so weird. I didn't think that there were any places like that left over since Queen Victoria kicked the bucket."

Harry mumbled in reply and kissed him again. Jacob flexed his biceps in warning before slowly smoothing his hands down Harry's sides to his hips. He squeezed them, hinting, and Harry wrapped his legs around his hips, bringing their groins into contact.

He hissed an endearment in Parseltongue softly, not that Jacob could understand him, and didn't protest when Jacob started pulling at his shirt. He raised his arms, making it easier for Jacob to pull his shirt over his head; he might've resorted to tearing it off if Harry made him wait much longer.

Chuckling at the adorable frown creasing Jake's eyebrows as he tried to undo his zipper while Harry still had his legs around him, he reached up and gently ran his finger down the little wrinkles between his eyebrows and along his nose to trace his lips. Jacob closed his eyes and sighed, taking one hand away from his zipper to seize Harry's wrist and keep his hand against his face. He kissed his palm, then his fingers, flicking his tongue across the sensitive tips.

Harry squirmed slightly at the ticklish feeling, and laughed when Jacob grumbled something about his fucking zipper.

"Sorry. Do you want to go and file a protest to the factory?"

His face flushed with embarrassment at his impatience more than he thought possible, considering that most of his blood seemed to migrate south whenever he was this close to Harry, this close to his warm skin and the soft upraised veins that-.

Harry craned his body upwards somehow and brought him back to earth with a warm lick against his cheekbone. "Hey, I'm starting to feel neglected here. Now is not the time to be a space cadet."

He prodded Harry's belly. "Ha, now who's the pervert?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "You're still wearing all of your clothes. Imagine how you would feel if our positions were reversed: I think that it'll make more sense."

Instead of answering, he untangled Harry's legs from him even as his body cried out in protest against him, and jerked off his jeans in one smooth motion. With two fingers, he pinched Harry's glasses and moved them a safe distance away so that they wouldn't get crushed if they started to move around more. Hooking his thumbs into the elastic band of his boxers, he tugged the last of Harry's clothes off.

Before Harry could get a chance to be embarrassed, he divested himself of his shirt and kicked off his pants. He took a second to thank the gods that he never wore shoes (or underwear) these days because of the transformations.

He smoothed his palms down Harry's bare thighs, closing the inches of space between them to rest his cheek on Harry's stomach, feeling the hints of hair against his chin. "Is this better?"

"Yeah." Harry sighed, curling his thin fingers into the long rope of his hair and tugging slightly. "Hey, come here."

Obediently, he crawled up so that Harry could pretzel his body around him again. He jerked his hips instinctively when he pressed against the cleft of Harry's backside, and Harry couldn't suppress a little laugh. "Eager?"

"Shut up." He whispered wetting his fingers first and then dipping his head. He took his upper lip between his and sucked as gently as he could, knowing full well that Harry would go utterly boneless. They'd found that it made the entire process go much smoother.

He probed him, wincing when he strained his shoulder a bit. Harry separated their mouths to see if he was alright, but Jacob dove back upon him before he could make any coherent inquiries. Harry trembled against him, sweat gathering on his temples as their rising body heat joined with the already-humid afternoon air.

"Ready?" He whispered, drawing his fingers out carefully.

"Yes- Oh! Um…" Harry jerked his head in the direction of his trousers, which Jacob had thrown clear on the other side of the clearing. "Were you intending to use the, ahem, condom Doris so nicely bought for us?"

Jacob blinked. "No."

"Okay. Yeah. I'm ready."

He grunted and arched his back a little when he made the first penetration, but took a trio of deep breaths and relaxed around him. He was getting the hang of this, and he clawed at Jacob's shoulders to ground himself when he started to thrust.

Jacob changed his position after he got to the hilt, squeezing his eyes shut and taking a moment to reign back the premature tidal wave of pleasure that he'd come to associate with being seated completely inside Harry. He braced his hands on either side of his head, bending Harry's nearly in half.

"Is this okay?"

Harry just nodded and groaned into his shoulder when he gave a particularly powerful thrust. "Do it like that again. You know that I'm not going to snap in half."

Jacob laughed breathlessly, and took one hand away from the grass to settle it against the juncture of his thigh and hip. "Yes, sir." He jolted his hips forward again, and again, biting his lip. They normally were a lot more careful than this, but he couldn't say no when Harry was whimpering like that.

"Fuck!" Harry moaned rather spoke, somehow drawing the word out into eight syllables.

"I-"

"Shut up, and just do it!" Harry yelled, wrapping a hand around the back of Jacob's neck and meeting his hips thrust for thrust.

Miraculously, he held out for another few minutes until he bent down further to take things up yet another notch and felt the small pool of pre-cum Harry was emitting. Harry arched into the extra contact, and he took him in hand. Harry writhed, head snapping to one side and then the other in time with Jacob's hips and palm, a series of consonants and vowels pouring out of his parted lips. His pink tongue slipped out to wet them, and Jacob's entire body jerked out of control for ten endless seconds, and then he froze, orgasm rushing over him.

His palm felt warm and sticky, and the part of his brain still working nodded with satisfaction that he'd made Harry go over the edge at the same time as him, something that they hadn't achieved yet.

Harry's legs slowly slipped down from their vice-like grip on his hips, loosely splayed on either side of him. He had the presence of mind to roll out of the way when Jacob's arms gave out and he collapsed; lying on his side, he tenderly combed his fingers through his hair.

Jacob said something unintelligible that sounded like a compliment and then fell asleep, soft snores flaring his nostrils.

000

It was dark now, and they'd missed dinner. Harry's sweaty chest heaved slowly, each breath a little deeper than the last as he began to fall asleep.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Harry smiled, eyes still closed. "I love you too, Jake."

He was as quiet as he could be; he tried to respect Harry's fatigue, but a question was burning behind his tongue, forcing its way out of his vocal cords and through his tongue.

"Harry?"

"Mm?"

"After you finish school…will you…come to the Reservation, and live with me?"

"If I live that long, yes."

Jacob gasped, and cupped Harry's warm face between his palms. "What? Why wouldn't you live until then? Answer me!"

Harry shook his head and muttered, "Can't. Falling asleep."

He whimpered as Harry slid out of the waking world, and pressed his face to the dewy grass beneath him. He tore up several clumps in agony, mind whirling with the possibility of a future without Harry. They had to be together, they _had to!_

000

"Where have you been?" Baby demanded, taking off his headphones. It was eight in the morning, and they'd only just stumbled in the doors. "Did you guys sleep in the woods or something?"

Harry giggled. "Well, we didn't exactly sleep, per se."

"Oh my god, I _so _did not want to know that!" Baby groaned, snapping his headphones back on before Harry could say anything else that might possibly scar him for life. Mental images of his room mates naked were the last things that he wanted to receive first thing in the morning.

They separated and went to their respective bunks, Jacob to change his clothes and Harry to finish packing his toiletries. He probably should shower before Aunt Marge got here, but he had higher priorities- namely, spending every spare second glued to Jacob's face. They could talk later.

Jacob tapped his shoulder, dressed. "Do you need any help?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope. I know that I didn't leave anything in the bathroom, and I kept almost everything in my trunk- Oh shit! I need to go get Hedwig."

"Your owl?"

"Yes." Harry stood, brushed his trousers down, and suddenly sprinted for the door. "Race you!"

"Cheater!" Jacob howled, giving chase.

000

They solemnly sat on the steps, hands tightly clasped together on the warm concrete between them. Jake couldn't swallow around the lump in his throat, and he was sure that he looked very unmanly right now, but he couldn't care. Harry was actually leaving. These were their last minutes together until…until Harry would finish school and come to live with him on the Reservation. He brushed away the shadows of what Harry had suggested while half-asleep, shivers running down his spine.

Harry squeezed his hand and leaned his head against his bare shoulder.

"Calm down, babe."

He swallowed with difficulty, forcing the grief down deep within himself. He didn't want Harry's last camp memories of him to be of him sobbing like a giant toddler.

Aunt Marge's car came into view down the long dusty driveway, and Harry took Jacob's face and mashed their mouths together before Jacob could protest. He poured all of his longing and love into his mouth, catching his long hair between his fingers and pulling just enough to make Jacob's scalp tingle.

He broke away with a loud comical 'smack', grinned, and got to his feet to signal Aunt Marge. She pulled up and he opened the back of her car without question, loading his trunk in record time. Jacob stood frozen on the steps, mouth a mass of tingling nerves.

When Harry got into the passenger seat, he came alive and leaped to press his hand against his window. Harry lined up his hand with his on the opposite side of the glass and mouthed, _I love you._

"I love you too." Jacob replied hoarsely to the back of the car as it pulled away.

He stood in the middle of the driveway and watched it disappear. He didn't move until the next car to arrive honked at him. He felt hollow…numb without Harry there. Suddenly everything around him looked gray and dead without the gold light that his boyfriend radiated there to warm the world, and he wondered how he was going to survive without seeing him every day.

000

End chapter 22

I hope that the lemon didn't utterly suck. It's been…well, years since I've actually written one out like that that I remember. There might be other incidents that I don't know about…creepy.

Anyways, review!


	23. Chapter 23

Important Author's Note: There will be no Male Pregnancy in this story, and Harry will remain completely human throughout the course of it, not some bastardized version of werewolf. Please stop asking about it. And no, you can't make me change my mind by threatening or begging me. Sorry.

CHAPTER 23

Sitting in the Dursleys car the next morning, he slipped his hand into his pocket and gently pulled out the present Jake gave him. Arranging his hands so that none of his family would notice it and confiscate it, he turned the ring right-side up and traced the small chip of diamond set into it with his thumb.

It was Jacob's mother's engagement ring.

His heart clenched, and he bit his lip to hold back a small cry.

Dudley turned from his hand-held to blink at his cousin when he heard him make a stifled cough. He'd been looking at Harry a lot since they'd picked him up from Aunt Marge's, and he was trying to put his finger on what had changed over the summer. He still looked like somebody had just beat his spine with a rubber hose, but besides that he almost radiated some kind of…hope. He shook his head and went back to his game. The freak probably enjoyed being cooped up with Aunt Marge and her dogs or something.

Harry removed himself and his trunk from the car in record time and was in the house as fast his feet would carry him. He dumped his trunk in the corner and set Hedwig on it before throwing himself face-first onto the bed and breaking into embarrassing sobs.

000

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, looking blearily around the terminal. Rain beat onto the roof, each soft patter lulling him back to sleep. He fought against it as best as he could, and a quick sprint to catch a descending elevator helped wake him up. Standing in the middle of the box as it descended to the baggage claim, he resisted pinching his nose. Why didn't people maintain their personal hygiene when traveling?

He gagged as soon as his floor arrived and he could step out. His suitcase revolved several times on the pulley system before he'd collected himself enough to notice and snag it.

Luggage in hand, he proceeded to the nearest payphone and called Embry to have him pick him up.

"Jake! Dude, I don't care how much fun you had; you are _never _leaving me alone for an entire summer again!"

He laughed. "What, did Quil die or something?"

There was a moment of heavy silence before Embry mumbled something that was lost in the crackle of the phone.

"Embry?"

Embry sighed, and began to say, "Something happened and-"

"Your call has been terminated. If you wish to continue, please insert-"

Jacob hung up and rubbed at his face. "Ugh."

His glum mood was made even worse by the knowledge that Bella's impending marriage wasn't the only thing that'd changed since he was at camp; he dragged his luggage to the doors, scuffing his sneakers against the linoleum tiles. It was raining outside still, but there were plastic booths with benches inside for people to wait in. He'd just tell some of the homeless guys to shove off and wait there.

Seated on a damp bench, he leaned forward and put his face in his hands, shoulders shaking. He didn't move until Embry pulled up in his truck and honked the horn to get his attention. He didn't smile or wave; he couldn't find the energy.

The ride was a tense affair, Embry biting his lip and sending Jacob looks every now and then and Jacob staring listlessly out the window, as gloomy as a mortician.

Finally he cracked. "Okay, what happened?"

"What?" Jacob slowly turned watery eyes to his friend. Embry shivered.

"Jake, I'm not blind. If you don't want to tell me, fine. I respect that. But I want you to know that…that you're the last friend that I have." His hands whitened as he gripped the steering wheel tighter. "A couple of months ago, Quil just stopped talking to me. He started hanging out with that Sam Uley guy and his gang, and I might as well be invisible for all the attention he's given me."

Jacob gaped. "What the hell? Do you know why? It's not like him to do that."

Embry shook his head. "I don't know what his problem is, but everyone on the Rez has been acting funny lately. Nobody answers any of my questions, and all I hear is Sam Uley this and Sam Uley that."

"Shit." He chewed his knuckles for a moment before asking, "How is my dad reacting to this?"

"He isn't. He was in the hospital for most of the summer, and when he got out he didn't seem surprised or worried about anything, even when I asked him after he'd been drinking with Chief Swan."

He groaned. "Great. Knowing my dad, this means that it's actually something serious but he doesn't want anyone to panic."

Embry shrugged. "Maybe. Your dad is like Buddha or something…I can never tell what's going on in his head."

Jacob grinned despite himself. "Maybe there isn't anything going on."

They snickered a little, and the tension eased for the next couple of miles. But then Embry tentatively asked, "Um, you know about Bella getting…uh…"

"Married?" He hissed between clenched teeth. It was her business who she married, but he still couldn't conceive what she saw in Cullen. He was a self-satisfied bastard who thought that he was better than everyone because he was a Vampire. "Yeah, she called me to tell me after he asked."

"Oh." Embry fiddled awkwardly with the radio, turning to a country channel that they liked sometimes.

"No, I'm not happy about it." Jacob knew that Embry was waiting for him to answer his unspoken question and just wanted to get it over with. "Edward's a dick."

"I know, and I haven't even met him." Embry grinned at him, reaching over to slap his shoulder. "So…did you meet any girls with cool accents there?"

Jacob grinned. "Yeah, there were only, like, 5 other Americans total, and they were just a group of ten-year-olds from Oregon. Everybody had an accent."

Embry stopped at a red light and took the opportunity to give Jake a long, searching look. "Oh my god! You met somebody and you're hiding it, aren't you?" He punched him in the shoulder. "Come on, don't be an asshole! Tell me!"

Jake frowned at him. "When did you turn into a girl?"

"Hey, don't be mean. You've been mooning after Bella for ages and now I suspect that you canoodled somebody and you won't have the balls to tell me about it! I mean, Jesus, are you even a virgin anymore?!"

He blushed to the very roots of his hair. "I'm not telling you anything."

"Aw, come on…" Embry stuck his lower lip out like he used to do when they were little, shifting the car into gear as the light changed. "You know that I'd tell you if I had something going on."

"But…I just don't want to talk about it yet. It wasn't just a physical thing, Em, okay? I'm not ready to think about being away from them yet."

Embry frowned and then blinked when he realized what Jake was talking about. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Okay, back up, how did this happen?"

"How did what happen?" Jacob wondered as they pulled into his driveway.

"How did you move on way past being obsessed with Bella to falling for some foreign chick in England?" Embry got out of the car, circling to open the door so that Jacob could shoulder his way in with his duffel. "Is she just beyond awesome or something? Or did you just finally realize that Bella treats you like a doormat?"

Jacob shook his head. "No, I'll tell you later. I'm too tired to explain it right now."

"Ok." Embry shrugged, following him into his room. "I think that your dad is at the hospital having a check-up or something. I don't know when he'll be back, though."

"That's alright. I can wait." Embry grinned.

000

End chapter 23

Sorry the chapter isn't much.


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

He wiped the crusted tears out of his eyes and stumbled into the shower at five in the morning, safely earlier than Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon could walk in on him. Squeezing water out of his hair, he met his eyes in the foggy mirror.

Could he do this? Live without Jacob for two years?

He bit his lip. Maybe he could go see him next summer or over Christmas or something, although it wasn't likely. Voldemort was hardly the sort to pause the war simply because it was the holidays.

Dressed and more miserable about going back to Hogwarts than he'd ever imagined he could be, he went back to bed and waited until Aunt Petunia pounded on his door and commanded him to make dinner. He made it without a hint of enthusiasm, still lost in thought.

He sat in the car, and then got out without paying his uncle's grumbling any mind and unpacked his trunk. Hedwig chirped mournfully at him, and he reached through her cage to stroke her feathers. She crooned and gently went for his fingers. He smiled painfully at her, and then headed into the station, dragging his trunk behind him.

There weren't as many people in the station, since he was late thanks to Dudley waking up late for school, so he was able to slip through the barrier immediately instead of waiting for a moment when no one was watching.

What met his eyes when he stepped through was unbelievable. Chaos reigned in what used to be a slightly disorganized but nevertheless safe train station. Horribly young bodies were strewn across the floor mixed with much larger black-robed and red-robed bodies. The odds didn't look good. Most of the children were hiding behind pillars or peeking out the windows of the train firing naïve hexes, and the Death Eaters out-numbered the Aurors three to one. He could see several members of the old Defense Association, among them Neville, Ron, and Hermione. Neville was standing back-to-back with Hermione, spells flashing out of his wand impressively fast. Harry's eyes frantically scanned the rest of the scene while he probed his scar, trying to see if Voldemort was hiding here somewhere. Thankfully, he was nowhere to be found.

Hedwig screeched a warning, and he ducked a dark purple curse that flew in the direction of his face. Pulling out his wand, he fired back a stunner. Flipping his trunk up, he used it as a barrier against the various spells shot his way. He was forced to move when two of the Death Eaters rushed him, and barely dodged out of the path of a Crucio.

His calf was skimmed by a burning curse, setting his trousers on fire. He hissed a water charm to put it out and whirled to see who cast it.

Before he could process what was going on, two of the Death Eaters grabbed him and pinned his arms at his sides. He elbowed one in the solar plexus and stomped on the other's foot, slipping away when their hands loosened.

And that was when he saw it. The curse came speeding through the air as swiftly as a diving falcon, and snatched Neville's life straight out of his hands, the flash of green light the last thing that he would see.

"No!"

His scar exploded with pain. In his peripheral vision he saw a black blur appear and stretch out a bleached claw to him, a spark of green light forming at the tip of the wand.

"Harry, move!" it was Ginny who screamed, and he saw her sprinting across the station to his side. The curse brushed the side of her skirt, rotting half of the fibers. He seized her ankle and dragged her down with him, shielding her as he attempted to disarm the Dark Lord. He was deflected, as usual, and had to roll out of the way of a Crucio.

Shoving Ginny out of the way, he narrowly escaped a blood-boiling curse.

She took the hint and went off towards Ron, who was holding off Bellatrix Lestrange and not doing too bad of a job.

He swallowed his morals, thinking only of Neville's death, and fired off a killing curse. He hoped desperately that it would connect and end this horrible war before it could go much farther than it already had, but it ricocheted when Voldemort cast caught it with his wand and flew towards a Death Eater. The figure fell dead.

Voldemort chuckled. "I see that you aren't quite as self-righteous as I have believed."

Harry retorted with a Blasting Curse that actually hit the dark Lord, knocking him back and into a brick column. His skull impacted with a loud crack, and his body dissolved into smoke, a high-pitched screeching making his eardrums pulse painfully.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then the remaining Death Eaters beat a hasty retreat. Several were captured before they could apparatate and stunned by the Aurors.

He was about to offer his assistance, half-way across the platform, when Hermione nearly knocked him down with one of her flying hugs, her arms a vice around his neck. "Oh my god, thank god you're alive!"

He shakily wrapped his arms around her, smiling weakly at Ron, who was watching him with wide eyes. "Mate, where were you?"

He frowned. "What do you mean? I got to the platform with enough time to catch the train- was there some kind of memo that went out about the Dark Lord attacking that I missed?"

"No, he means, where were you all summer?" Hermione's moment of breathless affection was over, and her usual caustic demeanor returned with a vengeance. She punched him in the arm, hard. "We didn't know what to think! We thought that you were kidnapped or, worse, dead!"

"Oh." He glanced between them, flabbergasted. "Um, sorry. Can we discuss this later?" he remembered Neville, and his insides clenched tightly. "There are more urgent things going on than what I did over the hols."

Ron glanced in the same direction Harry was, his eyes skating over Neville's prone body. His face pinched, and, as one, they moved towards him. Kneeling on the ground by his head, Harry reached out and gently shut his eyes.

Hermione started to cry, and Ron wrapped her in his arms. Harry wanted to join them, but he couldn't hold still. His limbs were on fire, and he wondered why Dumbledore wasn't there, why he hadn't done anything.

Tense, he circled the battleground and found Ginny kneeling by Dean's body, tears streaking down her cheeks. He hesitated, and then laid his hand on her shoulder. She jumped, and then burrowed into his chest, sobs jerking her shoulders.

"There, there." He tried to soothe her, frantic eyes looking around at the bodies now being identified, listed, and carried away to a morgue by the Aurors and volunteers from St. Mungo's. He spied several actual morticians amongst them, their distinctive fitted black cloaks standing out amongst the red Aurors.

At last he saw Dumbledore appear, and speak for a while to the group of terrified first years that'd emerged from the train alongside the other students that had taken refuge there. They seemed much calmer once he'd finished speaking, and uninjured students from around the battlefield began filing aboard.

The train was going to depart soon, carrying all undamaged students to the school for safe-keeping until the mess could be sorted out.

Dumbledore noticed him, and began striding towards him. Ginny noticed as well and disentangled herself from him, still tearful but understanding that Harry would need to discuss things with the Headmaster. Before he let go of her hand, she squeezed it and whispered, "I'm so glad that you're alright; I was worried."

He stroked her nose, and she blushed. He regretted that move, and coughed to cover his embarrassment. He had to be careful now- he knew that he couldn't just go around accidentally flirting with people even if Jacob was horribly far away.

Strike that: _especially _now that Jake was far away.

"harry, my boy, its so good to see that you are in good health!" Dumbledore managed to emit his usual calm despite their location, and Harry mustered a brave little smile for him.

"Thank you sir. It's nice to see you as well; I can only hope that your holiday was as wonderful as mine." He smiled brighter now, feeling childish glee at the look his comment provoked. Before he could be asked about where he'd spent the summer months, he carried on, "I'm afraid that I have some rather drastic news about the Dark Lord, though. I made him vanish into smoke when I hit him with a curse that, in a roundabout way, made him crack his skull."

Dumbledore seemed a bit taken aback. "Really?"

"Really." Harry nodded seriously. "And I hate to ruin the beauty of this, but I don't think that he's gone for good. This happened way back in first year as well, and I suspect that he'll possess someone again. I was wondering if you knew, just off the top of your head, if there was some kind of dark magic that might be allowing him to stick around like this, and if there's a way to fight it."

His eyes narrowed in thought. "I do know of at least one method, but we cannot discuss it so publicly. It is _very _dark magic indeed."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a camera flash and a glimpse of Skeeter's electric green handbag. He groaned. "I don't think that we can discuss anything here, serious or otherwise, now that the press has arrived."

"I understand you completely." Dumbledore twinkled at him. "I will allow you to escape to St. Mungo's for the time being along with your friends, but we shall have a chat once it has been ascertained that you are in full health." He leaned in close, and Harry caught a whiff of sherbet lemon. "I am very interested in knowing what you got up to this summer, Harry."

He swallowed and nodded. "Of course, sir."

"I look forward to it." He patted his arm. "And my condolences for your grief. I know that you have lost friends today."

Harry covered his hand with his own for a moment, and was blinded by a camera flash. He frowned, irritated, and released the Headmaster's hand. "Thank you."

"Farewell." He shooed him away, and then rounded on Rita Skeeter with a smile that could thin paint. "Ah, Rita! How lovely to see you!"

Harry bit his lip to hold back a spiteful laugh as the Headmaster distracted Rita thoroughly from his presence.

Hermione caught his arm, and he rode with her and the Weasley siblings through the Floo to St. Mungo's.

He wasn't looking forward to their questions.

000

End chapter 24

Sorry for the days of no updates. I am just being pelted with reality these days and the time isn't as handy as it once was.


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

Dad was a little grayer than he was before, and his eyes looked different when they chatted absently to one another, but other than that he was holding up well and had only asked about England in the context of whether or not he'd had a nice time. A week had gone by without too much upset since he was home because Bella hadn't contacted him, and it was once again a Saturday night that he was spending at home cooking.

Jacob flipped the fish he was frying and squeezed some more lemon into the pan, hissing between his teeth when some of the oil popped up and burnt his arm.

"Are you alright, son?" Billy called over the sound of the baseball game, a harsh metallic sound following the query. Jacob assumed that he'd crushed his beer can.

"Yeah, I'm fine, dad." He sucked on his knuckle. "Do you need anything?"

"No…well, actually, I will have another beer if you're feeling generous."

Jacob grinned and shook his head, reaching into the fridge and getting another beer for his dad. "Hey, do you mind if I have one? Just think of it as a fee for my bother." He handed it to him, and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. He could really use a drink: every second that he didn't get a letter from Harry made him want to die. It was getting harder and harder to hide how broken up he was, and Quil was getting downright pushy about what happened at camp. Thankfully Quil had been sick the past couple of days, though, so he didn't have to worry about dodging his questions at school or in the shop.

"Are you going out later tonight?"

He shook his head. "Nope, I'll be in my room studying."

"Then help yourself." Billy patted his bicep. "You're almost a man now, no matter what the government has to say. I think that it's about time you should be allowed a drink every now and again."

Jacob flushed a little. "Thanks, dad."

"Oh, get out of here before I start crying or something." Billy grumbled and switched the channel when commercials began playing, deciding on a football game to fill the time.

He shook his head at his dad's antics and went back to the fish, which was just on the verge of reaching that heavenly golden-brown color that meant that it was perfectly cooked through.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it, son."

He assumed that it was Chief Swan or one of the other elders stopping by, so he didn't make any effort to listen in on his dad's conversation. Pulling the fish off the stove, he checked the potatoes with a fork and drained the water. He set the pot with the potatoes in it next to the fish and got out the butter.

"Do you want one fish or two?" He asked, taking a swig of beer.

"One, and put any that you aren't going to eat on a plate for Sam, here."

He swallowed his beer wrong, hacked, and then robotically took out a third plate. He held it loosely between his fingers, marveling at the incredible amount of hostility that he now felt towards their dinner guest. What Quil told him swam through his mind like a school of fish, and his grip tightened.

The plate shattered. Cursing, he called out that he was alright and got out another plate. Serving up the requested portions, he stepped over the mess on the floor and handed one to his dad and the other he blindly held out in the direction that his senses told him Sam was in. for some primal reason he knew that meeting his eyes would be a bad idea, that it might spark something unfortunate.

"Hi Jacob; I don't believe that we've met."

He grunted. "Nice to meet you, Sam. If you don't mind, I've got a mess to clean."

Sam laughed, and the sound sent shivers down his spine, a mixture of pleasure and revulsion surging through after. "Sure, don't let me keep you."

"Thanks." He disappeared back into the kitchen and got out the dustpan. Kneeling carefully on the braided rug after checking it for shards of glass, he picked up the largest pieces with his hands and then swept the entire floor just to be safe. Picking up the rug, he carried it out onto the back porch and left it there as he mopped the floor with a wet rag. The last thing he needed was to come down in the morning barefoot and get a piece of glass in his arch.

After beating the rug, he brought it back inside and set it down. Serving himself some food, he settled onto it cross-legged, beer just by his knee. He ate slowly, chewing carefully in case he encountered a sleuthing bone, and stared blankly ahead of himself. The sound of his dad and Sam Uley talking was a dull buzz in the background, and he refused to focus on it.

His wolf was pricking up its ears and sniffing the air, itching to crawl out of his skin.

He gritted his teeth and took a bite of potato, followed by a long gulp of his beer. A pleasant warm feeling tingled a little in his temples, and he started to relax more. Finishing his food, he rinsed his plate and put it away.

To get to his bedroom he would have to walk briefly through the front room.

He braced his hands against the rim of the sink and looked at his blurry reflection in the window above it, framed by gray rain and the golden reflection of the kitchen light. Why was this so hard? He would just saunter right on through, hole up in his room, and do some homework.

Confidence regained, he strode out of the kitchen, and stood absolutely still. Sam Uley was looking directly at him, legs spread slightly and hands curled into fists. A hint of teeth was visible beneath his deceptively neutral face. His dad was missing, but the door to the bathroom was closed so he could guess where he'd gone.

His eyes narrowed, and they unconsciously turned the mercurial blue-gray of a wolf. A miniscule hint of a growl rumbled out of his chest.

They stood for what felt like hours simply staring at each other, locked in a silent battle that neither of them understood.

The toilet flushed, followed by a gurgle of water from the sink, and then the bathroom door snapped open and his dad came wheeling his way out. He stopped when he spotted the pair of shape-shifters having a silent battle of wills, and caught his breath.

Could his son have transformed already…? No. it wasn't possible. Jacob would've said something. Lord knew that that boy couldn't keep his mouth shut if he had even a tidbit of gossip.

Finally Sam looked away, an almost sheepish expression flitting over his face. Jacob smirked and went around his dad to his bedroom, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Have fun watching the game, guys."

His door shut behind him, and Billy let out a huge breath.

"What the hell were you doing to my son, Sam? He hasn't shown a single sign of being prepared for that yet, and although he's been a bit mopey since he came back, I haven't seen any hint of the anger that you've told me to watch for."

Sam shrugged. "I don't know what to think. Jacob's eyes…I've never felt like that before."

Billy frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"When I looked at him, I felt _challenged. _Billy, I didn't see a young wolf-to-be: I saw something that I can only describe as a Loner."

Billy shook his head. "Nonsense. No mention was ever made in the legends of such a thing happening. Our tribe itself is like a pack, a close-knit community that trusts each other. It is unthinkable that my son, of all people, should be a Lone wolf."

Sam rubbed his eyes. "I don't understand it either. It's possible that it was simply a trick of the light. I haven't been getting as much sleep as I should, and my pack is very young and rebellious. Sometimes they take more of me than I can give."

Billy smiled gently. "It's alright, Sam. I appreciate you coming here to tell me about the pack's new member."

He smiled back. "Yes, Quil will make a wonderful addition to our pack."

000

The phone rang loudly, and he groaned, rolling over and pulling his pillow over his head. But then he remembered that his dad was taking a nap and how tired and worn down he'd looked before that, so he leapt out of bed and through his door, snatching the phone out of its cradle before it could have another chance at waking his father up. Looking over his shoulder at the couch, he smiled at his dad curled up on his side with the awful orange afghan his sisters made when they went through a craft phase at fourteen wrapped around him. One socked foot peeked out, so he leaned forward and tucked a corner of the quilt over it.

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

He snapped back to attention.

"Uh, yes, this is Jacob Black. Who am I talking to?"

"Jacob!" A very female shrieked. "It's me, Bella! Sorry if my voice sounded different- I have a stupid head cold."

"Oh… hey, Bella. How are you? I guess you must be back from Paris by now, right?" He leaned against the wall and then decided to sit on the floor, reaching out for the little pad of paper that they wrote phone messages on. He took the cap off the attached pen and started to sketch without paying attention to it.

She giggled. "Yeah, I got back a couple days ago but didn't have a chance to talk to you because…well, you know Edward doesn't like me talking to you and he's been with my constantly ever since we got back."

Jacob bit his lip and then decided that he might as well participate in the conversation. "If your fiancé doesn't like me and you have to go behind his back to talk to me, then why did you call? I'm sure that Alice or whoever can help you out if you need help with your wedding. I'm kind of worthless right now."

Fuzzy noise filled the silence, and he heard her sigh. "Jake, you're not worthless. You're my best guy friend and I don't want you to forget that."

He rolled his eyes and added some shadows to his doodle. "Fine. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I just wanted to see if you were interested in being a part of my wedding party."

"I can't be a bridesmaid, Bella. I'm a _guy."_

She burst out laughing. "Oh, you know that wasn't what I meant! It's just that I'm having Alice be my matron-of-honor and Rosalie and Angela and Jessica be my bridesmaids, and Mike refuses to talk to me so I can't ask him to be a groomsmen. You see, right now Jessica doesn't have anyone to escort her and I can't exclude her."

The faint hope that was swelling inside of him, the hope that he was more than a convenience to her, shriveled and faded away; he'd been right. She didn't care about him and she never had. But she was getting married and he couldn't deny her this last favor.

"Okay."

"Oh my god, really?!"

He pushed down the anger flaming through his veins. If it got out of control, his wolf would rise to the surface and he shuddered to think of how disastrous that would be to the furnishings to have a massive wolf crushing them.

"Yes. You're getting married, after all, and as long as it's okay with the groom I'm happy to help you out."

"You're the nicest person ever, Jake." She cooed, and he bit his lip to hold back a retort regarding her less-than-nice treatment of him.

"Well, I wouldn't want your dad coming after me with his double-barrel if I made you cry."

Bella giggled that crazy giggle again. "True. Hey, I've got to go now. I need to go dress shopping with Alice…_again."_

He grinned to himself at the thought of her agony. "Aw, poor you."

"Yes…well, bye, Jake! I'll let you know what kind of suit to buy when we decide on a color scheme."

"Bye, Bella."

He hung up and looked down at his drawing. It was his mother's ring with Harry's eye in the middle. He couldn't tell how he knew that it was Harry's eye: something inside of his simply recognized his identity even as a pen sketches.

He ran the pad of his thumb over it. Tearing off the sheet, he took it to his room and put it under his pillow. Sitting down, he picked up the little figurine Harry made and rolled it between his fingers as he kicked off his shoes. Setting it aside, he pulled off his shirt and shorts.

Stretching stark naked, he paused a moment to kiss the top of the owl's head before climbing out of his window and transforming. When he was done, he felt a surge of relief roll through him. His anxiety about not hearing from Harry melted away, and he bounded off into the soggy forest to mark his territory.

000

End chapter 25

A PROPER UPDATE! (when I was supposed to be studying math…)


	26. Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

"You can _do _that?" he gasped, almost dropping his tea.

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "I'm afraid so."

"But…" He frowned, and set his cup down on the short-legged little mahogany table beside his comfortable chair. "If people can lengthen their lives indefinitely by slicing off a bit of their souls and just stashing it somewhere safe, why doesn't everybody know about this?"

He looked grave. "Because, Harry, it is some of the darkest magic ever imagined and put into practice. It is also extremely painful and complex. Most die in the process."

Harry snickered before he could stop himself despite the seriousness of the situation. When Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, Harry explained, "I just thought it was funny that there's a high chance of dying while trying to perform a ritual meant to make you live forever."

Dumbledore nodded. "I suppose that I can see the humor, but it is no laughing matter when one is confronted by the prospect that Voldemort has more than one of these terrifying devices. They must all be destroyed before we can hope to kill him for good."

He took a long drink of his tea and poured himself another cup. "Yeah, I don't know where we're even going to start. Perhaps we can sift through the collection of memories you mentioned, you know, look for clues?"

"That is an excellent idea, Harry!"

He hummed. "Alright, now that that is settled, what are you going to do about classes? The students that haven't gone home to their families yet looked pretty unhappy when I walked past them on my way here, and the first years are panicking."

"I have not decided whether or not Hogwarts can be used as a safe haven for students that could be attacked for xenophobic reasons, or if they should all be sent home to their families."

"Are you asking my opinion?"

"Yes." He folded his hands on his desk, and looked at him over the tops of his moon-shaped glasses. "You and I need to learn how to communicate, knowing how involved your role is in the downfall of Voldemort."

"Do you mean the prophecy?" Harry crossed his legs, and looked up at the portraits. Several eyes shut quickly to preserve their illusion of sleep and he smirked.

"Yes. What do you think about the students?"

"I think that we should send them home. Their families have the right to see with their own eyes that their kids are alright." He chewed his knuckle. "And any of us that remain behind, any members of the D.A., should probably move out of our dormitories and sleep in some of the old guest rooms or something because, if Voldemort attacks the school, the dormitories will be prime targets. Especially Gryffindor Tower, I reckon."

"Fair enough." Dumbledore's eyes sharpened suddenly, and Harry quickly looked away. He didn't like the idea that someone could read his thoughts just by looking him in the eye. It was too great an advantage against him to be fair. "Harry, I would very much like to know where you were this summer."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"Because it isn't a big deal and nothing even slightly illegal happened during the two months in which you could not pinpoint my precise location, in stark contrast to all of my previous summers, alright?"

He sighed. "Harry, why are you being so stubborn about this?"

"I have the right to remain silent. If everybody else can keep secrets, then so can I. now, if you would excuse me, I want to go have some lunch."

He left without a backward glance, cup half-filled with tea still sitting in its saucer.

Dumbledore put his face in his hands and groaned. Sometimes he forgot that Harry was sixteen, but at times like this he was sharply reminded.

000

The guest rooms were on the first floor, oddly enough, tucked into a wing that hadn't been used in over 200 hundred years, not since parents stopped checking up on their children for weeks at a time.

Most of the students chose to enlarge their rooms and share with their close friends and old room mates. None of them wanted to sleep alone.

His room was between Hermione's, which she was sharing with Ginny and Luna, and Lavender and Parvati's. Ron and Seamus were sharing with him, but hadn't stayed after moving their trunks from the Gryffindor Tower to the room, heading instead to the library to finish their homework.

After a slow walk around the grounds after lunch and a visit to the Giant Squid, he went inside.

Harry shut the door to his new room, and went straight for his trunk. Flipping the lid, he pulled out the nicest, least-ragged sheet of parchment he had and a quill. Closing his trunk again, he sat cross-legged on the floor and used it as a table.

_Jake,_

_I am sorry that it took me such a long time to write, but some things happened at school and I had to go to the hospital for a bit to cure up a burn or two. There was some kind of gas explosion, and several people died. I was quite broken up about it. Two of them were my room mates. _

_How is your dad? Is his health alright or is he still having trouble with the infections you mentioned?_

_Classes haven't started because of the accidents, which is good because I never would've had time to finish that last essay if we'd started right away. I guess that that is the only silver lining that I can think of. _

_I know that it is weird that I'm delivering this through an owl, but Hedwig is the most possessive owl ever to live and would probably peck the postman to death if she ever caught sight of me 'cheating on her'. Just tie your reply to her leg with the leather strap- she won't bite you .Oh, and she likes a bite of toast and a nip of water, too, before you send her back. If she nips at your fingers, it means she likes you._

_I miss you like crazy and am beginning to think that I'm mad for not getting a VISA or something and flying over there to see you. Please send me some pictures of you, and anybody else you want me to see, and I'll do the same. _

_I love you,_

_Harry_

_P.S. How is your, ahem, furry problem? Does anybody know yet?_

He rolled the parchment and kissed it, feeling like a pathetic girl but not knowing how to resist his urges to be as sappy as possible. Thank god his letter wasn't some kind of attempt at poetry.

"Hedwig! Here, girl!"

She crawled out of her open cage and swooped over to him, settling on his shoulder. She took a lock of his hair into her beak and preened it. He sighed and turned slowly to rest his back against the trunk. It wouldn't do to rush her off when she was in one of her moods.

He rolled the parchment between his fingers, lost in thought. What was he going to do? How was he supposed to even destroy a Horcrux?

He groaned and slumped into his trunk. Hedwig tugged hard on his hair, pulling his scalp, and he murmured an apology, holding up his hand for her to peck at. Her smooth beak brushed against the backs of his knuckles, and she cooed softly. As usual, she could tell that he was in a foul mood.

"Thanks, Hedwig."

She chirped and climbed down his arm to pick at the string of his letter. With a wry smile, he tied it to her leg. "Now you be extra careful with this one, okay? It's for someone very special. Be safe when crossing the ocean, alright?"

She cooed again and rubbed her head against his forehead. He stroked her wings for a moment and then rose, carrying her to the window. Opening it, he held his arm out and said, "It's for Jacob Black."

Bobbing her head, she flew off into the gray sky.

Despite the cold wind, he stood in the frame of the window and watched her go until she was out of sight, and then remained until the stars came out and he could see the lights of the Great Hall out of the periphery of his window.

Then he spun on his heel and walked stiffly out of his room, still wearing his mud and blood-splattered jeans and sweaty jumper. No thought to his appearance crossed his mind- now was not the time for petty concerns.

He met Hermione at the entrance of the Great Hall and she silently pressed her palm against one side of his face. He closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of her hand. When she removed it, he opened his eyes and she winked at him.

"Come on, Harry. Let's get in there before Ron eats everything out of worry."

"Hermione, your injuries-"

"Are fine. Thank you for caring." She walked around him and through the doors, and he had no choice but to follow.

The students who hadn't gone home were all crowded into the Ravenclaw table, and he caught sight of Ron and Ginny towards the far end because of their distinctive hair. Luna was sitting to the side of Ginny, a massive bowl of pudding cradled in her child-like hands.

He grinned despite himself and crept up behind her as quietly as he could, finally tapping her on the shoulder. She didn't even flinch, slowly swiveling around in her chair to blink up at him.

"Hello, Harry. Did you want to sit with me?"

"Sure, why not?" He slid beside her and shot Seamus, sitting across from him, a sympathetic smile. He didn't look healthy, dark rings under his eyes and his hair even messier than usual. Without Dean beside him, he looked like half a man instead of his usual lively self. He served himself some shepherd's pie and stole a spoonful of Luna's pudding before she could devour it all. She kicked his leg under the table good-naturedly.

"Doing alright, Seamus?"

He shrugged mutely, glumly swirling his potatoes with the end of his spoon.

Harry bit his lip and decided not to push him. He knew that he would be beside himself if he lost either of his best mates, as though somebody tore away one of his arms. He passed him the pumpkin juice, and Seamus weakly quirked up one side of his mouth.

Parvati, sitting between him and Lavender Brown, patted his shoulder.

Looking beyond Lavender, he saw Ron and Hermione softly talking to each other, heads together and one of Hermione's favored thick books spread out between them. Ron lifted his head and rolled his eyes at Harry, mouthing, 'Potions homework'.

He ate quickly, not tasting much of it, nodding to the occasional vague statements Luna made. Her oddness was comforting in its familiarity.

Ginny didn't stop looking at him the entire time.

000

End chapter 26


	27. Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

It was October now in Washington, and the cold weather made him appreciate his portable fur coat more and more. Most days after school, after he'd repaired the ever-opening drafts around the house, he set off for the woods and remained there as long as he could.

He ran freely through the woods, feeling an exhilaration that he never would've experienced prior to his transformation. He let out a howl of joy and bounded through the woods at the speed of light, startling rabbits and deer with abandon. In hindsight, that might come back to bite him if they started migrating to get away from him, but right then he couldn't restrain himself.

He knew now that restraining the wolf was a bad idea. If he held it back too long, it would explode on its own.

Stopping when he ran out of breath, he laid spread out on his belly and simply relaxed, enjoying the peaceful smell of rain and mud against his fur. A rabbit poked its head out of a burrow and began to creep out. He lashed forward and closed his jaws around its neck, cracking it's spine with relish and sitting back into his previous position. He gnawed blissfully on the rabbit, eyes half-closed.

Sam walked through the woods with purpose, flanked by two of his pack, sniffing for Vampires. So far the Cullens had honored their treaty and stayed on their side of the border, but it couldn't hurt to ensure that they were being entirely honest and there'd been several suspicious attacks lately. It could be the work of some sick-minded individual, but it could also be some traveling Vampires.

A waft of something powerfully unfamiliar wandered past his nose and he stiffened, a growl building in his throat. There was something here…something unfamiliar.

An answering growl came through the woods to their left, and then a wolf much larger than any of their pack came bounding out of the underbrush and landed with a powerful 'thud' in front of them. Its fangs were bared and its fur stood on end.

Sam couldn't have been more intimidated than if he was faced with a forest fire and no escape.

The unknown wolf advanced slowly, growling low in its throat and tail swishing from side to side. Its russet fur glinted with reflected raindrops. He heard his wolves whimper slightly, and their eyes burned into his sides as they looked to him for guidance that he didn't know how to give. A Vampire was one thing, but against one that was of their kind but not one of them he had no strategy.

Something was catching his nose about his adversary though. He jerked his head, gesturing for his pack-mates to go home and waited until they were gone before he started thinking hard about what his senses were trying to tell him. There was something terribly familiar about this, his eyes locked with an opponent so much stronger than him.

Jacob didn't know what to think. The presence of other wolves in his territory had never occurred to him. In fact, they had probably claimed the territory already, which meant that he would have to fight their leader for it.

He snorted, looking over the smaller wolf. Its legs were much thinner and shook slightly with fear. Its fur was nowhere near as thick as his, and he got the impression that this wolf was older than him.

He shifted to the side, beginning to circle him. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could claim the territory for good and go catch some more rabbits. He couldn't put his finger on why, but the rabbits were juicier here.

Sam saw now that there was no other choice but for him to fight with this stranger even though he knew he was going to lose and started moving in a circle as well.

This continued for several long boring minutes, both wolves eyeing each other warily. As time went by, the russet wolf's tail began snapping back and forth faster and faster, betraying his impatience.

He took the plunge and leapt onto his back, thinking desperately of how he would explain this to the tribe's elders. The russet wolf jerked out of the way and bit his leg, forcing Sam to tear his foreleg in order to rip out of his grip.

Jake didn't make any move to attack him, waiting politely for him to dab at his wound with his tongue briefly. When Sam was recovered, he tried again and was rolled this time, finding himself crushed beneath the other wolf's body. He tried to breath, but panic was making the breaths too short and too shallow, and his eyesight went a little funny.

Teeth, long and yellow with blood-stains, bit into his exposed neck.

He howled in pain, but stopped when the teeth bit much harder in reprimand. He whimpered instead and stretched his head back to show the wolf that he accepted his defeat.

The wolf backed off and huffed through its mouth, bending over a little puddle formed in a natural depression and taking a lick. It was a gesture of trust; trust that his new dominance would not be challenged.

Sam sat on his haunches and watched. He could feel his pack's confused questions buzzing around him as they tried to make sense of his new memories, and their many requests to come and assist him. He brushed away their concerns and made sure that they understood not to intrude upon his interaction.

Not seeing what else to do since he couldn't communicate through his mind with him, he transformed back into his human body. The wolf paused in mid-lap, and then resumed drinking as though nothing astonishing had happened.

"Um…how much of the forest do you wish to claim? I have a growing pack and the young ones need room to roam, but of course I don't wish to invade your privacy. If you could just…if you don't want to transform, just indicate with your head which directions you want. Perhaps we can negotiate a border?"

Jacob sighed, which sounded strange coming out of his canine vocal cords. He jerked his head to the right, in the direction of a massive swath of forest that included his house and part of the beach.

Sam nodded. "Fair enough. Any other parts…?"

Jacob shook his head, and made a slightly confusing gesture that Sam deduced meant that he didn't need a lot of space because there was only one of him.

"Thank you. You have been very generous."

The russet wolf snorted and shook the water that'd collected on its face off, a few droplets landing on Sam's naked skin. He shivered and transformed back into a wolf, bowing to the loner before trotting off back to the village.

He would have to figure out just who he was dealing with later.

000

When the sky got pitch dark and the wind started to howl louder than he could, Jacob stopped marking his territory with his urine and headed back through the woods. Hopefully his dad wouldn't get too suspicious about him being gone so long. He couldn't say that he was out with his friends anymore, because he apparently didn't have any. Nobody talked to him anymore, not at school, not at the supermarket, nowhere. It didn't help that all the boys seemed to worship Sam Uley.

He got home in time to make dinner for his dad, though he wasn't hungry enough to eat any himself; the rabbits were just too delicious for him to resist.

"Where did you get off to today, son?" Billy asked, wheeling into the kitchen. He grinned when he saw that Jacob was making chili, which Jacob only made when he was in a really good mood. "That smells good."

"Thanks." He spared his dad a cheerful smile before going back to emptying cans of beans into the large pot on the stove. "I took another long walk in the woods. Nothing special, really….what did you do?"

"I was just down with the elders, actually. There was another wolf sighting like those in the papers, but this one was closer to us than any of the others. It was close to _us, _son. Now, I know that you're a man and can take care of yourself, but I would prefer it if you didn't stay out there so late. Wolves get bolder in the darkness."

Jacob nodded like a responsible son, trying desperately not to snicker about being indirectly told to be afraid of himself.

"Okay. Do you want me to carry a weapon?"

"I would prefer it, yes, if you're comfortable with it."

Jacob shrugged. "It doesn't make a difference to me if it's small. I'll just strap a knife to my ankle or something."

Bill smiled and patted his side. "That's my boy. I heard that some of the kids are going down to the cliffs to have a bonfire for Halloween. Are you planning on going?"

He sighed. "I'd like to, but I wouldn't have anybody to talk to. Everyone avoids me."

His heart with the weight of the secret that he had to keep from his son, the same secret that was causing him so much hurt socially. "Well, maybe Bella and her friends are doing something."

Jacob gave him a look. "Dad, we both know that her friends are Vampires."

"I meant her high school friends." Billy laughed at his son's expression of disgust. "Alright, alright, I'll stop bothering you. Let me know when supper's ready!"

Left to himself, Jacob mindlessly finished the chili and set it on the stove. It wouldn't taste as good without more time for the flavors to blend together, but he'd made more than enough t last them a week so he could just freeze it.

His thoughts wandered to the encounter he'd had with Sam Uley that afternoon and he wanted to groan. It explained the animosity he felt towards him, but now he was wondering if the other two wolves with him were boys from the tribe. It would make sense taken in the light of the hushed whispers that floated around his small school and the way that his friends avoided him like the plague, but it was still a little bizarre.

He wondered why Sam hadn't known that he was a member of the tribe as well. Perhaps it was better this way: the only pack he wanted to be a part of was the one with just him and Harry.

His hand went to his pocket and he fingered the outline of the letter that he carried with him everywhere when he wore clothes. It was really weird that he had to send his reply back with the owl, but it was kind of cool at the same time. He felt like one of those old spies in black-and-white movies sometimes, tying notes to pigeons. Not that pigeons had anything on Hedwig by way of style and personality…

He snorted when he realized that his thoughts were rambling. Maybe he should call Bella or something, just to get his mind out of the constant revolving wheel of wondering what Harry was doing and wanting to be close enough to touch him.

His body hadn't adjusted to being deprived of sex very well, and he missed the little things that Harry would do when he was in one of his sweet moods, as rare as they were.

Groaning, he stirred the chili and walked outside to get a blast of cold air.

000

End chapter 27

JACOB IS THE KING OF HIS CASTLE! Or forest. Whatever.


	28. Chapter 28

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: Harry is never going to tell Jacob that he's a Wizard, nor will Jacob find out somehow. It's just not happening. Why is it not happening? Because I say so and it would be out of character for Harry to confess something that can only cause them both pain and a great deal of emotional turmoil. There isn't any logical reason for Jacob to know. Thank you!

CHAPTER 28

Leaving the school with Dumbledore was a rather strange feeling. It was like going on a field trip with his grandfather, not that he had any past experience of that to compare with this. Of course, they were actually going out to track down the soul containers of one of the evilest people ever to live, so this was considerably more depressing than a field trip.

"So where are we going, again?" He asked, taking a sip of his thermos. They'd traveled in style- within the headmaster's pockets was a shrunken tent, cooling cabinet stuffed to the gills with everything from biscuits to pastrami, and even a shiny brass kettle. All of Harry's worldly possessions were stuffed inside his trunk, which was shrunk and strapped to his hip beneath his trousers for safe-keeping.

"We are going to the most likely location that I have worked out as a hiding place. It is a cave that he visited several times in his youth."

"If you know where it is, why aren't we taking a Portkey?"

Dumbledore looked over his shoulder at him and smiled. "Because it's more fun this way."

Harry smiled back and took some more tea. "I suppose that fun is an important part of fighting a war?"

"Actually, yes. If you spend all of your time focusing on the depressing side of life you'll die young and ugly from the stress. It isn't natural for humans to live without joy."

"I see." Harry stepped around a thick log and decided to enjoy the scenery for a bit.

000

They did go the short way when it came to crossing the water between them and the cave, Dumbledore taking his shoulder and side-along apparatating them across the distance. They landed safely, and Dumbledore entertained him with a story of a friend who spliced half of his hair once and had to walk around lop-sided.

Entering the cave, they crept along the dark slimy passages until Dumbledore stopped them by a shimmering section of the cave. Running the tip of his wand along the outline of it, he made the door appear out of hiding.

Harry began to get a funny, nervous feeling in his stomach and squirmed a little as they walked through it and into the circular chamber. It was lit faintly by the greenish liquid in the unnatural land depression, at the center of which was some sort of island.

"I can only assume that what we're looking for is in the middle of the creepy green lake."

"You would be correct." Dumbledore sighed. "You circle around the left side of the lake, and I will do the right. Look for a boat or raft of some kind."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Why? I have my broom with me. We could just fly across."

Dumbledore beamed. "That's my boy! Think outside the box!"

He chose not to reply to that and unstrapped his trunk, re-sizing it and removing his broom. He put his things away and straddled it. "Are you coming or am I going alone?"

"If you don't mind, I would like to get behind you. It wouldn't be fair for me to have you face this challenge alone without the amount of research that I have done."

He shrugged and waited until he was sure that the Headmaster wouldn't fly off the back as soon as they left the ground, and then gently took off, forcing himself to glide gracefully through the air and over the sickly lake. There were things in the water, and he paused, hovering a meter above them to get a better look.

"Inferi." Dumbledore said solemnly.

"They look like Zombies." Harry pointed out.

"That is because that is the word Muggles use to describe the undead. Inferi, however, are not cannibals. They will kill you by tearing you limb from limb, but that is only because of the hostility emanating from whoever created them, not because they want to eat your brains."

"Oh."

Harry flew the rest of the way and alighted on the island. An unpleasant shock went up his leg when he tried to dismount, so he stayed on his broom and advised Dumbledore to do the same.

"There must be some kind of spell…"

"I can see that!" Harry snapped. "Come on; let's just take that goblet thing and go. It looks like the sort of thing that houses a twisted soul fragment."

Dumbledore waved his wand over the goblet, muttering some incantations. His wand tip lit up, glowing bright blue for a second or two before fading back to normal. "You are correct, Harry, that goblet does indeed contain the Dark Lord's soul."

Harry hummed. "Okay…how did you plan on destroying it?"

"Well, it is said that nothing is more harmful to the powers of darkness than the blood of innocents."

"So you have some baby's blood with you?" Harry chewed his lip, trying to figure out how they would use the blood. Would they sprinkle it inside the cup or would they rub it on the runes molded into its sides?

"No, Harry. I was referring to _your _blood."

Harry clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth thoughtfully. "What makes blood innocent?"

Dumbledore gave a little cough. "An innocent must be someone who has either never killed someone else, or is sexually pure. I cannot say that I pay particular attention to the grapevine at Hogwarts, but I do know that you haven't had any serious girlfriends either at school or at home, so you qualify for both."

"Um…" Harry turned red.

"What?"

Dumbledore sounded so innocently confused that Harry felt like a monster for destroying the old man's perception of him.

"Well…uh, you know how I was kind of missing this summer?"

Dumbledore gasped. "Oh! Oh, I understand. Forgive me, I didn't mean to patronize you or in any way insinuate that you were naïve in these matters."

"It's alright. How were you to know?" He rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, I still qualify for one, though."

"True." Dumbledore reached into his robes and handed Harry a long thin knife with a single rune carved into it that he recognized as the sign commonly interpreted as 'destruction'. "Here, you need only make a small incision in your palm and hold you hand over the goblet so that the liquid inside becomes tinged with your blood. It should negate whatever power it has and render the soul unto the underworld."

Harry took the knife. To distract himself from the fact that he would soon be cutting his own arm, he asked, "The underworld? Do Wizards believe in that kind of thing?"

Dumbledore seemed thoughtful. "Some do, yes, but not all. Wizarding attitudes are similar to those of Muggles in this area- there are differing opinions. Some believe that there is nothing but an abyss beyond this world; others believe that this is simply a step in a series of lives that we live. There is no set doctrine."

"Ah." Harry closed his hand into a fist around the blade and moved his fist upwards, allowing the knife to slide slickly out of his hand. Blood pooled through the cracks of his knuckles and had just begun to slide down his wrist when he extended his arm, holding the source of the blood over the goblet. The drops dripped into it, saturating the poison-green liquid within with a yellow color.

"God, this is so gross." Harry muttered.

The goblet began to crack and sizzle, the poison turning to steam that made Harry cough when he inhaled it. His lungs contracted and he wheezed, covering his mouth with his sleeve.

Around them, the lake bubbled and the Inferi began crawling out of the dissipating liquid, ascending the steep sides of the island and reaching their rotting fingers out to the pair of wizards.

"You have killed the Horcrux, harry. Fly us out!"

"You don't have to ask me twice." Harry grumbled, not sparing the Inferi a backward glance as they swooped out of the chamber, through the tunnels, and back into the overcast sky.

One down, six to go.

000

End chapter 28

Yes, it's short. I am well aware that this makes me a failure as a human being: there is no need to remind me.


	29. Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

_Jacob,_

_School has been grueling, thanks. We've been having a lot of field trips, and it's tiring me out. How are things on your end? Did you find out what's going on with your friends?_

_Sorry that this is short, but I have to go now. _

_I love you,_

_Harry_

Jacob folded the letter and put it in the cigar box. It was something that he'd had since he was a little kid, and he used to keep things like shiny rocks and snake skins in it. He called it his 'treasure box' then, and now he kept the little owl carving and every word Harry ever wrote him inside of it.

Lying back against his bed, he cast his eyes lazily around his room, taking in the 'save the date' card on his nightstand from Bella. It had a photograph of Bella and Edward together, standing with their arms around each other and looking deeply into each other's eyes. It was quite possibly the most pathetic thing he'd ever seen.

He reached out and flipped it over. Taking the cigar box, he hugged it to his chest and sighed. It was three weeks until Christmas, and Harry's letters were getting shorter and shorter. Sometimes he had to wait weeks before he heard a peep out of him, and he was worried.

They could've parted yesterday for all the dimming his emotions had gone through. He groaned and rolled over onto his side. The only human contact he had these days was with his father and Bella. Alice was, despite being a bloodsucker, quite decent to him, but she didn't count as human.

He felt like he was going to burst if one more day went by without Harry somehow magically dropping into his lap.

Rolling over to lie on his stomach, he fiddled with the edge of his pillowcase.

Someone knocked on his door, and he stashed the cigar box under his bed before calling, "Come in!"

He was expecting his father, so he was surprised when Sam Uley stepped inside first, followed by his father.

"Oh…" He sat up, feeling the need to make his size more prominent. "Is something wrong?"

His dad wheeled around the side of his bed and folded his hands in his lap. His face was pinched. "Son, we've decided that it's about time that we explain something serious that's been going on in our tribe."

"Okay." He nodded, letting Billy know through his body language that he was listening. "What is it?"

"Well…" Billy rubbed his hands together awkwardly, and looked away from him. "You know all of those legends and stories about our tribe, about being descended from wolves…?"

"Yes." He wondered where he was going with this.

"I…" Billy fell silent and seemed to be struggled, so Sam stepped in, hands clasped behind his broad back.

"What your father is trying to tell you is that they're true. Our tribe is once again half-man, half-wolf. The multiple sightings of abnormally large wolves in the papers are us, me and many of the young people on the Reservation."

He decided to play dumb. Standing up, he crossed his arms and snapped, "Why didn't anybody say something to me? Didn't I deserve to know that all of my friends are wolves now? That's why they've been avoiding me, isn't it!"

Billy sighed. "Jacob, son, we didn't tell you because we thought you were a late bloomer. The other kids slowly transformed, and Sam helped guide them through the process. We were waiting for you to turn, and I was sure that it would happen last summer. But you didn't and….and we're giving up. I expect you to tell me immediately if you start feeling funny, but I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, son."

Jacob sank back down onto his bed, and Sam put his hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off, snarling a little to keep up the sulky child act. He was genuinely hurt that they hadn't trusted him with their secret, but he knew that it was already done and nothing could be done about it. It would be a waste of his time to hold a grudge about it.

"There's one more thing." Sam said hesitantly, reaching out as if to try and touch again. He let his arm flop impotently back.

"What?" Jake muttered.

"There's a…a lone wolf. We don't know where he's come from, but he's the reason everyone was forbidden from entering the part of the woods to the south of your house."

Jake frowned, feigning confusion. "Why does one wolf get that much of the forest?"

Billy shrugged. "From what Sam told me, this wolf is almost twice the size of their largest, and quite the fighter. They've glimpsed him several times, but that is all. Since an altercation with Sam, there has been no communication between the loner and our pack."

"What does he look like as a person? Maybe I've seen him around."

Sam shook his head. "He didn't transform after proving his dominance over me. His fur is russet, and looks gold when the sun hits it, but that is all that I can discern of his appearance other than his size."

"So…watch out for circus giants because they could be giant wolves in disguise?" he playfully suggested, and Sam's decorum cracked a little as he smiled faintly.

"Not quite."

"You're talking this very well, son." Billy grinned at him. "I'm proud of you, and I hope you know that I don't give a damn about you not being a wolf. From the stories I've been hearing, it's a good thing that you aren't trying to eat everything in sight or having any funny mood swings."

Sam snorted. "Thanks a lot."

Billy just laughed. "Well, it's a relief to have this out in the open. What do you say we go out for dinner tonight to celebrate honesty?"

Jacob tensed a little at that. Was he doing the right thing, hiding what he was?

"Sure, I'm up for that." Sam smiled again. Jacob was struck by how different he looked when he didn't look like someone had rammed something painful up his ass. "What about you, Jake? I know you're not in my pack, but your ancestor was once an alpha of a pack like I am, and I'd like to honor him by becoming your friend."

His animal instincts, the same ones that drove him to run alone through his woods and wrestle bears, recoiled from the thought of friendship with a wolf inferior to him. He forced a smile. Social rules still needed to be followed, and he was damned if he was going to let his wolf alienate him from the first chance of making a friend from his Reservation since September.

"I'm sure that he would've wanted us to get along." He shook his hand and stood, crossing the room to his closet, getting out his jacket. His new body temperature made it unnecessary most of the time, but he liked to be as warm as possible and had continued to behave normally for his father's sake.

"Let's go."

000

End chapter 29

Sorry about not updating in forever and even now it's a half-update. My hormones have been on crack for the past 2 weeks. I can't help it, so trust me when I say that I am not torturing anybody on purpose.

Oh, and if any of my review replies have seemed mean, please see the hormone comment above.


	30. Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

It was pouring buckets of water, each drop feeling more like a spray from a hose than a natural phenomenon. This was to be expected, though, since it was the middle of May and Harry was currently outside, trying not to trigger any wards as he circled a low ranch house.

There was only one Horcrux left now, and this was thanks to ceaseless effort on the part of Harry and Dumbledore. The Headmaster had to leave occasionally to negotiate with the Ministry about things that he refused to tell Harry about because he was still refusing to share what happened over the summer.

Dumbledore wasn't here right now, and he'd made Harry promise not to leave the hotel and go off fighting by himself. Harry crossed his fingers while he promised, and here he was, separated from Voldemort by a mere wall of plaster and a few feet of soaking grass and mud.

A particularly freezing gust of wind blew the rain into his face, and he shivered, pulling the collar of his jacket up.

He crept closer.

Most of the windows were dark, and there was a back door that he scoped out as his best point of entry. He slipped across the muddy grass and flattened himself up against the wall beside it in case anybody peeper out. He touched the tips of his fingers against one of the panes of glass and waited. There was nothing, just the wind and the rain. He removed a piece of parchment and a small jar of syrup from his pocket, one of those little plastic things they give out at diners and bad hotels. Coating the parchment with syrup, he stuck it to the pane closest to the door-handle and smoothed it until it was completely flattened against the glass.

He smashed his elbow against it. The glass pushed elegantly inwards instead of shattering messily, and he peeled away the parchment from the corners it was stuck to. Dumping the pieces in the grass, he reached inside and unfastened the lock manually. As he'd expected, whoever had done the locking charms on the door attached them to the door knob. Normally this would be quite clever, since most Wizards would immediately try to disarm the door without paying any mind to the manual aspect, but Harry wasn't most Wizards so this was lost on him.

Stepping inside, he held his wand out in front of himself and started to creep down the hall. There was a small mudroom annexed off to the left, and a hall closet to the right. It was ajar and he could see the coats that must have belonged to the Muggle family who lived here before they were murdered. He spared a moment to feel sad for their fate, but snapped sharply into focus when he heard someone coming.

He looked around desperately for somewhere to hide and then decided to get inside the closet. He made it inside just a second before a Death Eater rounded the corner, heading straight for the door.

It was musty in there, and the artificial fur collar on one of the coats stuck to his face and tickled his mouth.

"What happened here? Burglars?"

He watched through the crack of the hinges as the Death Eater knelt and examined the door handle. Silently opening the door, he took two cautious steps, not daring to breathe. Raising his hands, he grabbed him by the neck and pulled him forcibly with him into the closet before he could make a sound. Once inside, he stuffed a glove into his mouth as a gag and whirled him around, jabbing his knee into his lower back.

The man grunted around his glove and Harry groped around until he found a scarf. He wrapped it around his neck twice and started to tighten it, pressing him against the wall and struggling to keep upright.

Something that he hadn't realized before was how _long _it took to strangle someone. The man thrashed and squirmed and whimpered, almost getting away several times. By the time he finally went completely limp and fell back against Harry, he was exhausted. His arms felt like they'd just been through the wringer, and the Death Eater was heavy against him.

Kicking him off, he shimmied upright and smoothed his hair back out of his face.

He now had a limited window of time in which the element of surprise could be preserved, so he moved down the hall until it opened up into a kitchen. There were three Death Eaters gathered there around some Tandoori Rice carry-out containers, eating dinner.

It was sort of surreal, and one of them even had their fork half-way to their mouth. for several seconds they stared at each other.

Breaking out of his surprise, he grabbed the first object he could reach, an orange kettle with a long spout, and clubbed a Death Eater over the head with it. He howled with pain, clutching his head and curling up over the table in pain. He whirled and dodged a Burning Hex thrown his way, retaliating with a smart smack across the face with the spout. It left a long scratch across his face, which began to bleed profusely. Before the injured man could do any more damage, Harry snatched his wand and snapped it over his knee. He ducked a Crucio from the third and grabbed the first man's wand, giving the second man a final blow to the head with the kettle to make sure that he wouldn't bother him later. He snapped the wand and threw the pieces in separate directions before straightening to face his opponent head-on.

He was broad-shouldered, and he leered when he caught Harry looking. Harry cursed him with Jelly-Legs and circled the table to confiscate his wand. Breaking it like the others, he tossed the pieces away like chaff and leaned over him to ask,

"How many of you are there here?"

"I'm not telling you, punk. Who are you, anyway?"

Harry frowned, confused before he remembered that he'd covered his scar with water-proof cosmetics just in case. He grinned. "I'm just a concerned citizen." He raised the kettle. "And I'm not afraid to use this. Do you see what happened to your buddy's face over there? It's not going to be pretty, is it?"

The man narrowed his eyes. "I am willing to die for my Lord. What makes you think that a little mark on my face is going to make me talk?"

He nodded and cast a charm to tie him up for when the man's legs stopped feeling like jelly. "You have a good point. I'm going to have to be more creative. Hm…let's see…"

Looking around, he spotted the knife block in the corner. He selected several knives of varying sizes, and snagged a dish towel hanging on the oven handle as he passed it. Lining up the knives, he glanced over his conquered enemies to make sure that they were still unconscious. A pool of blood was forming under the second man's head on the table, turning his rice pink.

He held up the smallest and the largest knives. "Which of these do you think would work better if I wanted to cut off someone's foot with it?"

The man swallowed a little.

"What, are you scared because this is a little different than what you're used to?" he nodded with false understanding. "I suppose that I can understand that. This is a lot scarier than a simple Severing Curse, isn't it? I mean, this will take a lot longer and it'll hurt so much more…"

He cast a Silencing Spell around the room.

"There, that way nobody can come and interrupt us if you start screaming."

"You…You can't intimidate me, kid. I won't talk."

"Okay." Harry shrugged, bending forward and jerking up the hem of his robe. He uncovered his ankle, pulling off his shoe. With a bright smile, he said, "You won't need this shoe anymore."

"Oh Merlin, you're really going to…AH!" He yelled, jerking spasmodically despite the ropes wrapped around him.

Harry was still tired from strangling the man, and he hadn't anticipated that sawing off a human foot would take so much man-power. The Death Eater's eyes were rolling back up in his head from the pain, and he was still screaming.

He reached for the larger knife and started to hack, tugging hard with one hand. He nearly sliced his own fingers a couple of times, but he managed to only knick his thumb.

At last, with a final crunch of bone and tendons, he pulled the foot free and held it up for the swooning Death Eater to see. "Now, are you going to tell me how many Death Eaters are left or do I need to take the other one off as well?"

He gibbered, and Harry sighed. He cast a Numbing Charm.

"There. Now, tell me what I want to know or I'll take that off and cut off your other foot. And if you still don't talk, I'll start to work my way up until you do, okay?"

"Oh fuck, you crazy little shit! _You cut off my foot! _I don't even know you! Are you some kind of psycho?!"

Harry shrugged. "We're not here to talk about me. You have 30 seconds, starting now, to tell me the answer."

"Eleven!"

"Thank you. That wasn't so hard after all, was it? You have a nice day, okay?" He stood, reached for the kettle, and swung with all of his strength at his head. There was a 'crack', and the man's head snapped to one side. "I can't say that it was nice meeting any of you."

He wiped his hands on the dish towel and wrapped the larger knife in it, tucking it into a belt loop.

Face sticky, he took down the Silencing Spell and exited the kitchen. His face felt sticky with blood but he didn't bother cleaning it. What would be the point if it was just going to get dirty again?

A Death Eater was coming down the hall, and he sprinted towards them as fast as he could. Mid-stride, he unsheathed the knife and swiped at their neck before they could draw their wand. There was an explosion of red blood, spraying out like a fan, and he shut his lips tightly so that he wouldn't get any in his mouth.

"Ten left."

The next two were in a dining room, marking new attack locations on a massive map that took over the entire table. They were easier to take down than the first three, and he made sure to destroy their wands even after killing them. It wasn't smart to leave weapons just lying around where anybody could grab them.

"Eight left."

He found number seven in a bedroom, catching a few hours of rest. The knife made dispatching of her surprisingly easy. Vomit was surging a little higher in his throat with every kill he made, but he knew that this had to be done. There is a point beyond which a person's humanity cannot be restored, and he didn't wish their eventual fate, Azkaban, upon anybody. Not even Voldemort.

"Six."

Number four caused him some sizable damage before he took him out with a metal chair, sending a Blasting Curse at his hip that he was pretty sure had knocked it partially out of alignment. His whole body ached, but he was like a robot now. All he knew was that he had to dispatch of these people, and then he could get his hands around Nagini's throat, and finally Voldemort's. There were too many raids, too many people dying, for him to stand idle.

There was one Death Eater left.

He searched the house, looking for him. He came across a sitting room, enlarged, with a long table against one side and a chair that could very well be described as a throne before the fire.

The room was empty. The Dark Lord, and his demented pet, was gone, slipped through his fingers.

He roared, and charged through the rest of the house, startling the last Death Eater, who came out of a bathroom with his pants still undone. His wide-eyed look of shock was still there when he hit the floor, a long serrated bread knife protruding from his chest.

Harry gathered all of the maps and charts left in the house, shrinking them and packing them into his pockets for later perusal. With any luck, he could deduce where the Dark Lord was now.

000

End chapter 30

Much longer than the last one, right?


	31. Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

He stood in front of the mirror, adjusting the lapels of his jacket. In the background, Bella swayed dangerously in her heels, holding tightly to Alice's arms as the shop lady laced the back of her dress for her.

"Alice, why did we have to pick such a complicated dress?" Bella moaned, looking nervously over her shoulder at the elderly Hispanic woman now doing up her bustled skirt.

Alice giggled. "We picked it because this one looks amazing on you. Come on, we've already started tailoring it to fit you- it's too late to change your mind. I promise that I won't have any trouble putting it on you on the big day, so stop worrying!"

"I am finished dressing you, Miss Swan."

"Thanks Roberta." Bella sighed to brace herself and then carefully let go of Alice. There was a moment when she looked like she was going to fall backwards, but she restored her center of balance, spreading her arms wide, and laughed. She whirled to look in the triple-set of floor-length mirrors against the wall. "Oh Alice, it's so beautiful." He face fell. "I look so plain in it."

"No you don't!" Alice reassured, stroking her arm. "You look great. You're going to knock Edward's socks off."

Bella turned to Jacob, who was fingering the selection of garters with morbid interest. Most were white with innocent touches of pink or blue, but there was the occasional neon piece of plastic lace thrown it. He picked up an orange one between two fingers and held it out for the girls to see.

"How do you feel about expanding your color theme?"

Alice gagged. "Absolutely not!"

He put it back down and raised his eyebrows at Bella. "Sorry, were you going to say something?"

"Yes; what do you think of the dress, now that it fits me better?" She did a little twirl, and then nervously clasped her hands together in front of her.

"It makes you look short, and you're bound to trip over that massive skirt, but if you wear higher heels you'll be fine."

Alice was looking at him with something like gratitude, and he guessed that she'd been holding in similar comments ever since Bella picked out a princess-style dress that, contrary to general ignorance, was not a good shape for everybody. Bella just looked shocked, and then her eyes watered.

"Oh, I knew I looked awful!" She wailed, tearing at her hair.

Alice rolled her eyes, which made Jacob stare, and hugged her. "You don't look awful. Like Jacob said, all you need are some higher heels."

"But…But I don't _want _to wear higher heels! What if I trip on my wedding day? I'd never live it down."

The Vampire patted her back while Roberta watched impassively. This was probably something she saw every day.

"Calm down, Bella. Your wedding isn't until next month- that's plenty of time to find a pair of higher heels and practice wearing them around your house. You'll be just fine; you always are. Besides, even if you did trip, I know Edward wouldn't care."

Bella sniffled. "Really?"

"Of course. He loves _you, _remember? He isn't marrying an idealized version of a woman, like those girls in magazines that you insist on comparing yourself to. He loves all of you, and that includes your ability to always find some way to trip over yourself."

She smiled, quivering in her cold arms. "That was a really nice thing for you to say."

Jacob went back to fingering the garters, and wondered if he should have Harry wear one under his suit if they had an official ceremony to affirm that they were life partners. He liked the idea, so he sifted through them until he found a navy one buried beneath all the others. It didn't have any lace on it, and was made out of some kind of stiff satin material.

When Roberta descended on Bella with her pins, adjusting any last minute sections of her dress, Alice came over to Jacob by the counter. He almost covered the garter before she could see it, but decided at the last second to just let her see what he was buying.

"A garter, Jacob? My, my, have you got somebody in mind to wear that?" Alice teased.

"Yes." He answered simply, handing over ten dollars to the woman behind the counter. She didn't look too happy about a teenaged boy buying a garter, but she didn't say anything. He grinned at her and took the bag, stuffing it into his cargo pocket.

"Oh really? Who?"

He glanced over at Alice and raised his eyebrows. "Nobody you know."

"Try me."

"I said nobody you know, which is code for, 'I don't want to tell you'."

Alice crossed her arms, checking out of the corner of her eye to make sure that Bella was still staying calm as she was pinned to perfection. "Why, are you having some kind of illicit love affair?"

Jacob chuckled. "What's it to you?"

"Well…I've always kind of wondered about your private life. When I first saw you, I thought that you were the kind of guy that didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. And I suppose that that is still true, because you do talk a lot when you don't think I'm listening. But I've been paying attention, and I know that you never really say anything about yourself." She looked at him appraisingly, and added thoughtfully, "You're very reserved, a lot like my husband."

"Yeah, I've only seen Jasper once, and he doesn't say much, does he?"

Alice shook her head, smiling. "No, he doesn't. But I know how much is inside of him, and it makes me appreciate it so much more when he confides in me."

Jacob smiled back, though his inner wolf wasn't too happy about being so close to a Vampire still. "That makes sense. The, uh, the person the garter is for can be quite close-lipped as well, but I trust them not to hide anything serious. Like, they'd tell me if they were cheating or dying of a terminal illness, but they can be pretty quiet the rest of the time."

"And you trust her?"

He blinked a little at thinking of Harry as a woman, almost laughed, and replied, "Yes, absolutely. I love them."

Alice looked like she was swooning a little. "Wow, I didn't realize you were a romantic. That's…that's pretty impressive coming from a young guy."

He raised his eyebrows again. "Just because a lot of guys sink to the lowest common denominator, because that's what's expected of us, doesn't mean that all of us do. People underestimate young men too much."

"Oh, I agree!" Alice hurried to reassure him. "I mean, I know that muscles and cars and girls aren't all you care about."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now, I think Bella needs your help again." He pointed to Bella, who was swaying on her own as Roberta started unlacing her for the last time. The final tailoring would be done in the next two weeks, and then she would have to store it somewhere for the remaining two weeks before her wedding day.

He watched impassively, fingering the garter in his pocket.

000

The next two weeks flew by in a flurry of activity, and he found himself spending his Friday night sitting on the floor of Bella's living room assembling goodie bags for her bachelorette party.

He tied a piece of ribbon around a netting cage filled with chocolate, put it into the last goodie bag, and groaned. He stood and stretched, looking around the empty living room. Bella and Alice had started out helping, but then Alice went up to work on the netting swaths that they were going to drape around the church, and Bella joined her.

Chief Swan came out of the kitchen holding a sandwich, and looked at the damage. There was pink fluff covering most of the surfaces available, including half of the couch. He kicked the rest of the decorations off the couch, sat, and jerked his head at Jake.

"Come on, have a seat."

He sat, dumping the bag with the others.

"How are you, Jake?"

He shrugged. "I'm okay."

"The girls haven't been too hard on you?"

He grinned. "No, they could be a lot worse. Even together, they still don't hold a candle to my sisters."

They shared a laugh, and then Charlie started to look serious.

"I know that it might not be right of me to talk to you about this, since she's 18 and can make her own decisions, but I've got to say that I'm not happy about my daughter getting married so young. Edward's barely nineteen, and she's still almost a child, and I'm just worried. I don't know if you know Edward any better than I do, which is almost not at all, so I've got to ask…is he a good man? Is he going to take care of my daughter?"

Jake was conflicted. Should he tell the truth of his opinions, or should he reassure him? He decided to keep the peace.

"Well, the Cullens aren't exactly friends of my tribe, but Edward seems to have it together. He's smart, he's got a good head on his shoulders when it comes to money, and he seems to be respectful of you. That's a hell of a lot more than can be expected of most son-in-laws, no matter their age."

Charlie nodded. "I guess you're right. Thanks."

"No problem."

000

End chapter 31


	32. Chapter 32

A/N: I just wanted to say thank-you to all of you who've reviewed and just read this story in general. You keep me writing even when I feel like shit. Also, I apologize for the short updates and bitchy author's notes in the past.

CHAPTER 32

"What were you thinking?!"

Harry had never seen Dumbledore truly angry before, and it was quite an impressive sight. He sponged some more blood out of his trousers, the cold tile of the hotel bathroom starting to hurt his knees.

"I'm sorry sir, but I couldn't help myself. It seemed like a good idea at the time." Harry kept his voice perfectly innocent.

Dumbledore did not look impressed, and he sat heavily on the toilet seat. "Harry, I know that I don't have to remind you of this, but you are the only one who can kill the Dark Lord. I…_no one _can afford to let you die."

Harry nodded seriously. "I'm sorry I let you down. I'll try not to let it happen again…unless I know that he is in a particular location and the chance is too good to miss. It's barely begun for me in comparison to how long the last one was, but I am sick of this war. I want it over."

"Well, referring to that, do you have any plans for what you want to do for a career once everything is over?" Dumbledore summoned the café tea he'd purchased. "I know that the current skirmishes are interfering with your education, but you can always take your NEWTS later."

He shrugged, reaching for the soup and rubbing it vigorously into the seat of his dirty jeans. "I don't know, sir. I used to think that being an Auror might be a good place for me, because I like Defense so much, but when I thought about it…well, it sort of boiled down to the fact that I don't want to be a copper."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "A copper? Do you mean a Muggle policeman?"

"Yeah; I mean, that's basically what Aurors are. I don't want to enforce the law. After what happened tonight, I'm not sure that I can keep my cool in high-pressure situations."

Dumbledore looked at the stained clothes floating in the now-pink bathwater with new understanding. "You lost your head?"

"You could say that, yeah." Harry lifted his shirt out of the water and started wringing it out. Images of bread knives and what he now knew he could do with them raced through his mind, and he felt acid coat the inside of his mouth. He clenched his stomach muscles to hold back the oncoming rush of vomit.

"Do you have any other ideas for a career, if being an Auror isn't for you?"

He swallowed the acid in his mouth, wincing at the feeling. "I just don't know. I don't know enough about what the magical world has to offer, and also…"

He trailed off, eyes distant. Now that he was faced with it, he knew that the thought had always been at the back of his mind, lurking there until he was ready to acknowledge it.

"Also?" Dumbledore prodded, waving his tea for emphasis.

"Also…" Harry whispered, "I'm not sure that I even _want _to get a magical job, or live in the magical world."

"What?" This was news to him. Most Muggle-raised children developed a life-long fascination with magic. "Why? It's your decision after all, but I would like to know the reasons, if you care to share them."

Harry wrung out one leg of his jeans, and then the other. "I've just never felt like I belonged here. Sure, I go to Hogwarts like any other young wizard and think of it as a second home, and I've got friends and a wand and an owl, but no matter how I try to integrate myself, I still feel like an outsider. Magic never stops surprising me, and what happened tonight just made me realize more that maybe I'm not the kind of person that should have access to something as potentially deadly as magic."

Dumbledore grew grave. "You know your self-control better than anyone else, and if you cannot trust yourself with a wand, then I understand and respect your decision. I'd just like to ask you to not turn your back on magic until you've killed Voldemort."

He nodded. "Of course; I wouldn't dream of just biffing off like some asshole right when people need me the most. Besides, I've got a complex, remember? I can't leave a country in trouble alone."

"And thank Merlin for that."

000

Voldemort managed to slip out of his grip twice more before he sent Fenrir to negotiate a diplomatic meeting. Harry knew that Tom would rather die than tell him this, but the truth behind his sudden desire to communicate was because he didn't have very many followers left. Harry often wasn't very happy to discover that he'd infiltrated a building for no good reason, and tended to take it out on whoever was unlucky enough to cross his path.

As far as he could deduce by subtracting everyone he felled from the Ministry's records of Death Eaters who served in the last war, Voldemort had Bellatrix Lestrange, Peter Pettigrew, and Fenrir Greyback left.

He scratched his chin, looking around the pub with mild interest. He hadn't heard anything about Lucius Malfoy other than murmured accusations of treason from the other Death Eaters, so he was assuming that he was no longer a threat. Knowing the Malfoys in general, he was probably holed up in some summer home in Spain.

The message from Fenrir arrived in the form of a formal note two days ago, sent via a trained hawk and everything. It was surprisingly articulate and polite, especially coming from a Dark Lord and an evil Werewolf.

As asked, he didn't carry his wand openly. He had it strapped to his ankle, and made sure to order a meal that would come with a knife and a fork, just in case the knife up his sleeve didn't leap as quickly into his hand as he wanted it to.

He cracked his neck and flicked an adventurous ladybug off his table. He knew he was early, but he was still getting edgy from waiting for so long.

At last, when the door opened, it admitted the broad form of Fenrir. Everyone in the seedy pub froze, and then there was a mass stampede for the door. Harry smirked and took a gulp of his Butterbeer.

Fenrir's eyes scanned the establishment, now containing only them and the bartender, who was staunchly ignoring them and polishing an already-gleaming glass robotically. They landed on Harry, who playfully saluted.

"You sure know how to make an entrance." He pulled back the hood of his sweatshirt, revealing his face and scarred forehead.

"It's a gift." Fenrir's voice was gravelly, and he didn't sound like he was used to speaking with words. He pointed to a spot on his face, meaning the identical spot on Harry's face, "What happened to your face?"

"Some bastard tossed a pitcher at me, and made it explode on impact."

Fenrir, against all of Harry's expectations, winced in sympathy. "Ouch."

Harry shrugged. "Okay, I know that this isn't a social call. What have you got to say to me that required meeting on neutral ground?"

"The Dark Lord wishes to resolve the enmity between our parties as soon as possible."

"Ah." Harry smiled knowingly. "He's run out of funds, has he?"

Fenrir's expression told him that he'd hit the nail on the head. There was never an honorable reason for the Dark Lord to be nice to him. "He suggested two solutions. The first solution is the easy one, where you both agree upon a truce, both naming your terms. The other solution is significantly more barbaric."

Harry gestured for him to continue.

"You will fight a duel at Hogwarts, which I believe is empty, to the death."

"Oh." Harry took a sip of his Butterbeer and carefully set it down within its ring of collected condensation. "I see."

Fenrir looked like he wanted to scratch himself, or fidget, and squirmed a little in his chair.

"I take option two."

The Werewolf seemed surprised. "You made your decision very fast. Don't you want to talk it over with your people first?"

"No." Harry sighed. "I'm the one who's putting his life on the line. It was going to come down to us duking it out eventually, so it might as well happen now, or whenever he had in mind."

"I see."

"Mm."

They were quiet. In the background, several faces peered in the windows and then slowly the patrons began to ease their way back inside, heading unobtrusively for their tables and speaking in hushed whispers to each other. Harry caught several people looking at him with a combination of terror and awe.

His new, bloodthirsty reputation must've spread.

Fenrir also noticed the looks. "I see that I am not the only one who frightens people."

Harry shrugged. "It was a necessary change on my part. It wouldn't do to let my youthfulness dominate what people think of me."

"Of course not."

He scuffed a hand through his hair, looking at Fenrir from beneath his lashes. _Oh, what the hell. _"Do you want a drink? I'll buy you one."

Fenrir smiled gratefully, and Harry wished he hadn't.

"Thank you. I haven't had a drink in…well, in a very long time. There isn't much petty cash floating around for life's little comforts anymore."

Harry nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, you'd be especially short this time around, seeing as you don't have Malfoy funding your enterprise."

Fenrir's yellow eyes narrowed. "What do you know about Malfoy?"

He ignored his question for a moment and signaled to the bartender, who nodded and sent a pair of beers over to their table with a packet of crisps as well.

"Nothing, I just believe in the power of deductive reasoning."

"You are smarter than they warned us."

"Yeah." Harry opened the bag of crisps. "So I've been told."

They chatted about inconsequential things, Fenrir working steadily through both the beers, until Harry asked,

"When?"

"When what?" Fenrir frowned, confused.

"When does Tom want to fight me in Hogwarts…you know, duel me or whatever."

"Oh. Well, he didn't know when you were free."

Harry nodded. "Well, I'll have to talk to my people, but I am almost positive that I can be at Hogwarts three days from now, on Saturday. I'm assuming that he wants to meet in the Chamber of Secrets, so that is where I will wait for him from noon onward. Does that sound fair?"

Fenrir finished off his beer. "Yes." He stood, chair scraping back against the floor. Everyone went very still again, and Harry hid a grin.

"Good luck, Potter."

Harry beamed. "Thank you, and good night."

"Good night."

000

End chapter 32


	33. Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

"Oh, it's so gorgeous!" Esme crooned, reverently stroking the dress through the plastic covering. It was hanging in Bella's closet, Alice, Bella, and Esme standing around it and admiring the way it glittered in the lamplight. Rosalie was the only one who didn't look too pleased about this, standing with her arms crossed against the doorway.

Jacob was beginning to feel like a colt in a flowerbed.

He sat alone on Bella's bed, surrounded by a sea of pink. There were bridesmaids' gowns, Esme's more sedate suit, and goodie bags from last night surrounding him. He anxiously tucked his feet closer under himself, and sighed quietly.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Rosalie slip away, no doubt to join her husband in the living room below.

Alice was the only one to pay any attention to his sigh, sparing him a lingering look and raised eyebrows. He smiled sarcastically back at her.

"So, Bella, do you have everything together for your honeymoon?" Esme asked, tearing herself away from the white gown.

"I have the sunscreen, bikini, flip-flops, and assorted beach clothes packed already." Bella chirped back cheerfully, flopping down on the floor beside Alice.

Esme looked a bit awkward. "Um, that isn't what I meant."

Bella frowned. "Then what do you mean? I have my clothes packed, the island has the food stocked already, and my toiletries can be assembled later, when I don't need them every day like I do now. Am I forgetting something?"

"Well…generally, young brides don't intend to get pregnant during their first month of marriage."

Alice stifled a giggle and got up, grabbing Jacob's arm and jerking him off of the bed.

"Come on, big guy; let's let them have this conversation in private."

He barely heard her, his mind swirling with completely uncalled-for mental images of Bella with a stomach huge enough to hold three babies, and the process required to achieve the state of Very, Very Pregnant Indeed. He turned red with embarrassment, and followed Alice through the kitchen, catching a snippet of the conversation between Rosalie, Emmett, and Charlie before his ears were flooded with the sound of rain.

They were standing behind the house, under the overhang of the roof. Mud started to seep between his bare toes, and he tilted his head back, opening his mouth to drink the rain.

Alice watched him thoughtfully, and leaned against a tree.

"I forget how young she is."

"Hm?" Jacob tilted his head down, opening his eyes and fixing Alice with a quizzical look.

"Bella; I forget that she's only eighteen. She's perfect for Edward, there's no doubt about that, but the age difference does bother me from time to time. Edward isn't very mature, its true, and he hasn't changed much since he was seventeen for real, but he's still seen a lot more of the world than Bella has."

Jacob shrugged. "I'm sure that they can work something out. I'm just glad that Edward is marrying Bella at all. I don't like him, I'm not going to lie about that, but he could just leech off of Bella until she was old and wrinkly and no fun anymore, and then make a run for it."

Alice seemed surprised. "I thought you hated the idea of them together."

He shrugged. "I did some thinking. I believe that their relationship is risky, considering that Edward's a hundred-year-old virgin who's never had a girlfriend before and Bella is the same except a hundred years younger, but I started to like the idea a lot more after my own crush on Bella faded away. Not to mention that I'm hardly one to talk. I've been seriously thinking about marrying the person I'm with now, and I've never been honestly serious about someone before."

"So you don't want to whisk Bella off to some teepee in the middle of the forest anymore?" Alice teased, eyes sparkling in the rain.

He grinned and shook his head. "Nah, I never wanted that. It was just a stupid crush."

She nodded. "I understand. Hey, speaking of your love life, how are things going with this mysterious lover you've got hidden away?"

He considered telling another half-truth, sized her up, and then replied, "Things are going good, but I really want to see him again. He says that he's almost done with school and this big project he's been working on, and that he's going to see if he can get a VISA to come and live here once he graduates."

Alice's eyes couldn't have gotten any wider unless you used pliers.

He smirked. "I'm thinking of proposing, too."

"Oh." It was a tiny sound, and he almost laughed.

"What, is it that surprising that I'm seeing another guy?"

Alice opened her mouth, thought about it, and replied, "Yes, honestly. I never would've guessed. I have trouble seeing the future of Quileutes, but I can still see enough. I never suspected this."

He shrugged. "Well, that's how it is. Harry is…I can't explain it. When I'm with him, its like the whole world is made of gold and I'm as high as a kite, even when we fight. But when I'm away from him, it's like someone stole the sun. Some mornings I'm too depressed to get out of bed, even though I crawl out somehow to make it to school."

"Wow. That is…that's intense, Jacob."

"I know. I just want to see him again, and to make sure that I never have him out of my sight again. At this point, I wouldn't care if he showed up dressed in a hula skirt and told me that he'd started WWIII. I'd accept him with open arms."

"I have to say that I had my doubts about our little conversation in the wedding boutique a couple of weeks ago, but I can see that you're really serious about this guy. I hope that he lives up to your feelings."

"He does." Jacob said this with such absolute conviction that Alice actually swallowed, feeling a little weak in the knees.

"I believe you."

000

End chapter 33

Pathetic little half-update that it is, I hope that it is appreciated anyway.


	34. Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

Harry flexed his back, stretching his arms high above his head.

They'd moved their belongings back into the Castle as soon as Harry came back from his meeting with Fenrir on Tuesday night, camping out in Dumbledore's private quarters because it had the strongest security due to the fact that it contained the safes and many of the more dangerous objects kept in Dumbledore's hands for safe keeping. They'd transfigured a sofa into a bed for Harry.

Dumbledore watched Harry impassively from behind his old desk, amidst his spotless office. The House Elves that chose to remain in the Castle had been diligent in their work. If it wasn't for the eerie silence and empty portrait frames, Harry wouldn't have been able to tell that the Castle was no longer inhabited.

He paced the office while Dumbledore flipped through some out-dated reports and letters from parents on his desk, and then announced that he was going to wander the Castle until dinner.

Being in Hogwarts again made him miss his friends more than ever, and he wondered if Ron and Hermione had finally stopped dancing around each other.

He walked all the way up to the seventh floor, lazily riding the staircases instead of walking up them. He rested his elbows on the railings, and slumped to press his cheek to the carved stone. It was cool and felt nice, and he closed his eyes, forcing himself to relax and just enjoy being in Hogwarts.

There was a chance that this was the last time that he would have a chance to do this, even if he did win the duel with Voldemort.

He followed the first corridor that caught his fancy once he was on the seventh floor, and started opening any door that wasn't locked too badly for the fun of it. He still had two days to plan how he was going to attack Voldemort in their actual duel, and he'd known for years that exploring by himself helped him think.

Almost all of the rooms were either old classrooms with varying styles of outdated desks or storage rooms filled with old tables and cabinets covered with sheets. The last door on the corridor beckoned and he felt a surge of excitement flood through his veins. Maybe this room would be something special.

Opening it, he blinked with disappointment when he discovered that it was just another storage room. He stepped inside anyway and peeked under a couple of the protective covers, catching glimpses of much older furniture than what he'd found so far. The wood was preserved with charms like all of the others, but these were rotting a little anyway. Something can only be preserved for so long, after all.

There was a set of four chairs against the far wall, covered individually and standing alone instead of stacked on top of each other like most of the other chairs. He wandered over leisurely, glancing inside a cupboard to find neatly labeled boxes holding things like wax, soap, and sick-bay linen.

Taking the covers off of them one at a time, he discovered first a chair carved with feathers and tiny soaring birds of every kind. He smiled, bemused, and let the cover fall. The next had lion's feet and hunting scenes carved into the sides, and the one beside it was covered with slithering snakes, some with their jaws splayed wide, fangs carved from ivory on display. The last had a simple relief of a badger across the back-rest, the rest covered with flowers with bees flying between them.

For a moment he thought nothing of it, and then his eyes widened. He peeked at them again, and blew out a long breath.

"Whoa…there is no way that these..." These chairs couldn't have belonged to the Founders, could they? He decided that there wasn't anybody who could answer that question, so he stepped away from the chairs and looked more carefully at everything in the room. "Oh my god."

Once the surprise wore off, he poked around some more and found a closed writing desk covered with drawers and little compartments sealed completely with spells that he couldn't break.

He was just starting to get bored when he spied a door in the far corner, half-hidden behind a wardrobe. He opened the wardrobe first, discovering a small box below the musty and comically outdated Professor's robes.

Kneeling on the dusty floor, he pulled it out and brushed it off. There was a small key already in the lock, so he, naturally curious, turned it and opened the box. Flipping the lid, he looked dispassionately at its contents. Inside were two neat rows of potion vials, separated by a thin piece of wood. He would've closed it and forgotten about it if he didn't notice the faded labels stuck to the inside of the lid, denoting the contents of the vials.

His eyes skimmed over _Arsenic, Deadly Nightshade, Basilisk Venom, Ragwort, _and_ Foxglove._

"Holy shit."

He set the box aside with care, closing it and locking it. He put the key in his pocket and decided to leave the box there while he explored the hidden room. The wardrobe moved easily to the side with a spell, and he opened the door beyond.

There was an unlighted staircase heading straight down in an ominous spiral. He was oddly reminded of the Disney movies that Dudley watched on the telly.

Casting _Lumos _because he didn't want to smash his head now of all inconvenient times, he started down. After several minutes of uninterrupted walking, he wondered if maybe he should have told someone where he was going, just in case.

He shrugged off the feeling and kept going.

Fifteen minutes later, he was starting to get nervous. The stairs just kept going, the threadbare carpet crumbling beneath his sneakers. He paused, re-tied his shoelaces, and kept going.

Quite suddenly, he rounded a corner and found that he'd reached a new level. The stairs continued downwards a few feet to the left, but he was mesmerized by what he saw. There were endless rows of books, glowing with faintly preserving spells and powerful magic.

He stepped forward into the first aisle, and blinked when he felt resistance against his feet. Looking down, he found that he was up to his ankles in dust.

The temptation was too great, and he browsed the titles in front of him. None of them were in English. Craning his neck, he looked up and saw that the upper shelves were covered with neat stacks of scrolls.

He decided to come back later, with a multi-lingual dictionary or Hermione, and possibly a Time-Turner. This didn't look like the kind of personal library that could be skimmed lightly. It required a serious time investment to be properly appreciated, and time was limited.

The stairs beckoned, and he began to descend again, leaving dusty footprints in his wake.

It was only five minutes before he stepped out onto level ground again.

At first he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was in the center of an immense room that stretched as far as a cathedral in every direction surrounding the staircase, forming a perfect circle. The ceiling was made of glass, intersected with a grid of metal supports as thick as he was. There were little glowing orbs of pink and blue light built into the supports, and they lit up the water above gloriously. As he watched, he saw the Giant Squid swim lazily past, tentacles waving in the current, chasing a school of glittering fish.

And then he spotted the door at the far end of the room. Even from his distance, he could still make out the familiar snakes twined across it, interlocking. It was identical to the first highly-intimidating door he'd found in the Chamber of Secrets.

Walking slowly in order to look up at the ceiling as often as possible, he made his way over to it.

A cobra with eyes the size of his fist eyed him with lazy interest, the blue lights giving it a dream-like cast.

He concentrated hard, ensuring that he thought of the snake as real before he attempted to communicate with it. "_Um, hello there_!"

"_Hello_."

He bit his lip.

"_Could I…maybe…ask you what is on the other side of this door_?"

The snake flicked its tongue, tasting his scent. _"I have not been sworn to secrecy, if that is what you are asking. The other side of this door is an ante-chamber, followed by a rather large, wet, and cold room. I don't remember what it's called, but I do remember that I don't like it. I don't like to be wet or cold."_

"_Ah." _

They surveyed each other. Finally, the snake flippantly asked,

"_Would you like to see it?"_

Harry sagged with relief. _"Yes, I would, thank you!"_

The snake slid away from the handle slowly since it took a while to unwrap its long and realistically-carved body fully. It slithered upward, clinging to the bodies of its fellows before rearranging itself along the carvings of ivy across the top of the door. Harry nodded to it, and touched the handle. A flutter of anticipation frolicked through his stomach, and he flinched before opening the door with one jerky movement.

A hollow echo sounded out as the door smacked into the wall, and he stepped over the doorframe and into the anteroom. There was a fireplace against either side of the far walls, and a quartet of chairs set against the wall.

The second set of doors was made of wood. Opening them, he found himself on the right side of the statue supposed to depict Salazar Slytherin.

He swallowed and stepped inside, immediately regretting it when he found himself in a puddle. The water was still here from 2nd year, but the body of the Basilisk was gone, probably cleaned hastily by the House Elves. Maybe Dumbledore had Snape carve it up and sell it for petty cash for the teachers to buy biscuits with.

He sighed, and it echoed, bouncing off of the columns and the door he'd come through last time he was here, desperate to save Ginny's life. Looking back through the lenses of everything else he'd suffered, it all seemed so…safe. Tom was in a diary, for god's sakes, and a giant snake didn't seem as scary to him now as it did when he was twelve.

Since he was going to duel Voldemort here tomorrow, he got to work vanishing the water for the sake of convenience. Once it was only slightly damp in here, he extended his _Lumos_ so that he could see the corners of the room.

Wonder of wonders, there were torches against the walls, set into carved recesses. He did a circuit of the room, lighting the torches as he went. Once they were lit, everything looked a lot cozier and he could see fire-pits in the floor.

On a whim, he lit those as well and transfigured some hairs from his head into candelabras.

And then a twisted idea occurred to him. He remembered the box of wax, the poisons, and his eyes flashed to the candelabras.

It just might work.

If anybody ever said that he was too much of a good kid to stoop to tricks to get a job done, they were wrong.

He set off towards the exit at a dead run, leaving the torches to burn themselves out.

He paused in the glass room, gazing wide-eyed at the mermen playing some kind of game with a large dead fish that looked suspiciously like Muggle football. The next floor up, he skimmed the books again, finally casting a Searching charm that led him deep into the twisting shelves to a small section close to the floor.

He knelt in the dirt and touched the spines of the glowing books with care, pulling out a manual on candle-making techniques. Opening it to the Index page, he checked and made sure that it had a chapter on adding scents or healing potions to the candles before he closed it and took it with him.

His foot was on the first step when he remembered to go back and search for a book on poisons. It wouldn't do to confuse the dosages.

000

The supplies floated behind him on his way to the unused potions labs in the dungeons, except for the box of poison, which he held carefully close to his chest. Poisons were notoriously delicate when it came to spell interference.

The walk was long, and his feet were starting to hurt. It was one thing to track down Horcruxes in weird locations, because most of the walking was done on grass or loose stone paths, but the hard slate floors were killing his feet.

When he reached the labs, he kicked off his shoes by the inside of the door and headed for the largest table he could find. Nabbing a book-support that would hold his manual open, he set it up in a corner and dug around in the cupboards for the biggest cauldron he could find.

Opening the box of wax, he unwrapped several large blocks and set them inside the cauldron after making sure that it was clean. He lit a fire beneath it and went to look for something to stir it with.

Once he'd carefully read the basic instructions in the candle-making book, he sat down and waited for the wax to melt.

Sure, this counted as cheating, but Voldemort hadn't exactly played fair, so neither would he.

000

End chapter 34

Sorry that this didn't have the duel. I didn't realize that I had so much to set-up first.


	35. Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

Everything was in place now. The candles were in their places, his battle robes laid out on a chair, and he'd choked down dinner.

But he couldn't sit still. There was a persistent nagging feeling that he was forgetting something, and he knew that he would go mad long before Voldemort started fucking with his head if he didn't remember what it was.

His eyes fell on Hedwig, perched on the edge of the fire screen warming her feathers. He walked straight to his trunk, opened it, and took out his writing materials. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he spread out his parchment on a book and dipped his quill.

_Jacob,_

_Please don't be worried by what I'm going to tell you in this letter. First, I just want to let you know that I will always love you. If this is the last letter you ever receive from me, please know that it doesn't mean that I don't love you anymore, because not loving you is impossible for me to even contemplate. It will mean that there is something preventing me from writing you, possibly even death. In that event, you will receive what I'm pretty sure would translate into a couple thousand dollars, although I'm sketchy on that because of the currency difference, and a small package containing some personal effects that I want you to have some day. Your address is also on the list of contacts to be invited to my funeral, although I'm sure my departed spirit wouldn't be angry if you couldn't afford the trip._

_If I survive what I am about to commence, you can expect me to arrive in your country in a week at the most. Don't worry; I'll call you when I land to let you know that I'm in the country and give you some notice. I don't expect you to put me up, since I understand that you have limited space, but if you want me to stay with you I will. I'm looking forward to meeting your dad and I hope that he approves of me._

_There are a lot of things you don't know about me, and if I have my way, you never will. Tom Riddle and his followers, the men responsible for my parents premature deaths and my godfather's incarceration, has been attacking me and those close to me over the past year. I've retaliated to preserve the lives of my loved ones, but I am not proud of what I've been forced to do. I hope that you don't find out because I couldn't bear it if you thought any less of me, not because I don't trust you._

_I hope that everyone on your Reservation is doing well and I hope to meet them._

_Love,_

_Harry_

_P.S. Would you say yes if I asked you to spend the rest of your life with me and only me?_

He sealed the letter with wax from a nearby candle and clicked his tongue at Hedwig. She raised her head and eyed him wearily, obviously irritated at him interrupting her grooming session.

"Please, Hedwig? This might be the last letter that you have to ferry to America, you know, so it's special."

She picked up on his mood and shifted her feet before springing off of her perch and onto the carpet. She waddled over to him and bumped her creamy head against his knee, making an odd cooing sound in the back of her throat.

He stroked her crest thoughtfully, gazing down at her with something akin to adoration.

"I love you too, girl. You've been a loyal and understanding friend through thick and thin, and have stood by me no matter what everyone else thought of me." He tied the letter to her leg when she stretched it out. "Give Jacob a friendly nip for me, okay?"

She hooted, clicked her beak at him, and flapped her wings until he sighed and gave her his arm. She dug her claws in during the short ride to the window, which he opened for her.

A cold spring breeze blew in off of the lake, and he thought of the viewing room beneath it. Tomorrow, he might be dueling in that room if they worked their way out of the Chamber of Secrets.

Hedwig bit his nose to get his attention and he shrieked, flinching backwards. She looked at him smugly, and he glared at her. "Come on, off you go."

She caught a piece of his hair in her beak and preened it, looking at him intently with her large yellow eyes. She let go and then launched herself, soaring as gracefully as ever out of his sight and into the night.

He stood there watching the sky until he started shivering and closed the window, going over to sit by the fireplace until he warmed up again. it would be embarrassing to come down with a cold on the day he was supposed to have a face-down with the strongest Dark Lord in god only knows how many centuries.

000

The agreed time was noon, but Harry headed down to the Chamber at 9 in the morning just to double-check that everything was in place. He adjusted his face mask, still in its plastic covering and stowed in his back pocket.

The candles, tucked into their candelabras, were everywhere. They floated in the air, they lined the walls. They even covered the rounded base of Salazar statue itself.

But they were unlit, and would remain so until he was ready.

He paced the room, installing alerts that would let him know if Voldemort tried to sneak in early and plant anything nefarious. He then went upstairs through the secret exit to the private library. Browsing the shelves, he found a book about American Indian tribes, printed by a Muggle publishing house in the 1960s, and sat on the dusty floor to read it.

There wasn't as much on the Quileute tribe as he'd been hoping, so he performed several search charms until he found a book on American religions somehow causing strange surges of magic that manifested themselves as extra DNA. Apparently wolves weren't the only animal that tribes could turn into.

A small alarm sounded when it was eleven-thirty, and he sighed. Putting the book back where he found it, he went all the way back upstairs at a dead run. It was oddly exhilarating to run down the seven staircases at a breakneck pace.

His sneakers left rubber skid marks across the front hall as he tried to get his breath back, remembering at the last second to grab his face mask. He fitted it over his mouth and nose, sealing the edges with the tip of his wand.

The doors opened, and he brushed his sweaty hair out of his face to meet Voldemort's eyes head-on.

Voldemort was flanked by Bellatrix and Fenrir, with Peter snuffling somewhere behind them, hunched over his silver hand like a wannabe hunchback. He flinched when Harry glared at him, and slunk into a corner close to the door, hiding his face in the collar of his robe.

Harry decided to ignore him from then on. Bellatrix licked her lips when he looked at her, and Fenrir simply nodded respectfully. Bellatrix might've been far too insane at this point to recognize a killer, but Fenrir wasn't. Neither was Tom if the way he wouldn't look at Harry for too long was any indication.

"They can wait here, Tom. This is just for you and me. I think we deserve one fair match, don't you?"

Voldemort flinched at the sound of his old name, but jerked his head at his followers anyway. Bellatrix huffed and stalked over to a bench, sinking into it and crossing her arms sulkily. Fenrir chose to stand.

Harry waited until the Dark Lord was beside him before he started walking back up the stairs to the third floor's fated bathroom. The tunnel was already opened up in the bathroom, since it was something of a bother to kneel on the soppy floor and communicate with a picture of a snake when you were in a hurry.

They stood on the brink of the tunnel, neither of them moving.

"Why are you wearing a Muggle face mask, Potter?"

Harry snapped the elastic holding it in place. "I took a walk in the rain and got a rather nasty head cold. What's it to you?"

"Nothing, nothing."

They were quiet for a moment, both of them staring into the black hole and neither of them making any move to take the downward plunge.

"After you." Voldemort finally offered with a smirk. Harry shook his head.

"Absolutely not; I'm not going down there first and having you land on me like I'm a mattress."

"Then it would appear that we are at an impasse." The Dark Lord pointed out with a hint of his usual unholy glee, which had been largely missing this morning. There was something about not having an audience that took all the fun out of acting like a sadistic lunatic.

Harry shrugged. "Or we could just apparatate down there."

He disappeared with a crack, and Voldemort followed a second later.

Harry didn't wait for Tom to get his bearings, stalking straight up to the snakes holding the rubble-surrounded door together. He demanded entrance, and they parted for him. His instincts whispered a warning. The air behind him shifted suddenly, and he ducked.

Something smashed into the wall, and he turned his head to click his tongue at Tom.

"It's a little early to be sending smashing hexes, isn't it? Have some patience, please."

Tom's slit nostrils flared as much as they were able, and Harry faked a wracking cough, knowing full well that his false illness would further relax the Dark Lord into a sense of false superiority.

With a wave of his wand, the candles were lit.

Voldemort stood still, just within the door, staring.

"I didn't think it was this nice either until I cleaned all that water out." Harry supplied, moving to stand on the far end of the room. Three fire pits and meters of polished floor reflecting the light brilliantly stood between them.

He drew his wand and cracked his neck to the side.

"I'm ready when you are, big boy."

Voldemort snapped out a Severing Curse before Harry could blink, and he barely moved to the side in time for it to harmlessly slice off a lock of his hair.

"You're quick for a half-blood." He stated casually, laughing when Tom tried to Crucio him.

He sent back some simple curses himself, not paying much mind to which ones he used. The room was slowly dimming as the smoke rose out of the thousands of candles, not vanishing like the smoke from normal magical candles. It started to gather high up in the ceiling, gradually sinking lower as they dueled.

Harry managed to scratch Voldemort's face by levitating some of the rubble still heaped in the corners of the room, and Tom had nicked the tip of his pinky. Other than that, neither of them had so much as lost a drop of serious blood.

The heat was intense now, but neither of them made any move to douse the fire pits. Sweat poured down Harry's back beneath his robes and made his palm slippery around his wand. He swiped some out of his eyes with his sleeve.

Tom let out a roar of frustration when Harry danced out of the path of his Killing Curse yet again.

He pretended to be hurt. "Are you getting bored so soon? We've barely begun!"

The air was gray now, the oppressive weight of it only adding to the tension building in the Dark Lord's shoulders.

Harry smirked behind his mask.

Tom snapped something, and suddenly he felt that something wasn't right. A splatter of warm blood hit the side of his face, sinking into the depressions from his scars. There was a ripping sensation, followed by deep ripples of pain. He sank to his knees, and turned his head to see what the source was.

His left arm was gone.

His brain couldn't process anything beyond that for the time being, overloaded with frantic signals from his nerves. He decided to ignore the absence of his arm for the time being.

He looked up. Tom was approaching from the right, sweeping his robes out of the hungry mouths of the fire pits. When he came close enough, Harry saw that he was sweating as well. He snatched Harry's wand out of his slick fingers and snapped it without blinking, grinning a moment later when Harry jerked at the loss of its bond.

Something scaly poked its head out of his robes, shiny black eyes looking at Harry with disinterest while a forked pink tongue tasted the smoky air. It snaked out again, and the snake's eyes snapped shut in pain. Nagini's body suddenly started shaking violently for a full ten seconds before she re-curled herself around Voldemort.

He didn't notice that she was dead, stroking her gently with his left index finger. Harry fought a smile.

Tom grinned triumphantly and raised his wand. "You almost won, Potter. You surprised me when you somehow became man enough to kill so very many of my loyal Death Eaters, but beneath all of your newfound strength you are still a child. And like a child, you are inexperienced and naïve. You are going to die down here, and I will make sure that you go down in history books as an idiotic upstart who only lived to the ripe age of sixteen through dumb luck and -"

He choked, wheezing a moment later. His wand clattered to the floor, rolling into a pit and bursting into flame immediately. A single sharp note of phoenix song signaled the death of the feather within it.

Tom tried to say something through his coughs.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Tom spluttered a cough, falling to his knees. His face was turning blue, and his red eyes rolled back in his head. His wiry body crashed onto its side and thrashed, foam pouring from between his lips and staining his robes like rotten milk.

He moved like a snake with its head newly severed, and even rolled through a fire pit during his fit. Finally, smoldering and seeping blood through his ears, nose, and mouth, the Dark Lord died.

Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and moved to extinguish the candles before he remembered that he didn't have a wand anymore.

"Oh, damn it to hell!" He stumbled to his feet, panting through the now-stabbing pain in his shoulder. His eyes frantically scanned the smoky room for his severed arm but found nothing. Apparently Voldemort went through the extra bother of vanishing it.

He tore off a scrap of his robe and staggered over to the nearest candelabra. He smothered the candles one at a time, and went through the room doing the same to each and every one of his hand-made candles.

Their poison wasn't needed anymore.

000

Dumbledore sat in his office, as per Harry's request, and twiddled his thumbs.

Fawkes looked at him with irritation and tucked his head under his wing, seeming to huff. Dumbledore looked at him mournfully and took a sherbet lemon out of his little bowl. He'd just unwrapped the yellow paper and was about to put it in his mouth when his door slammed open.

His wand was in his hand, and he pointed it at the intruder.

Harry waved a hand. "None of that, sir…not now. I need your help- Fenrir has agreed to surrender, but Bellatrix pitched a fit and I'm not sure how long the rope is going to hold her. She broke three suits of armor before Fenrir and I got her under control."

Dumbledore noticed for the first time that there was a balled up piece of tablecloth from the Great Hall tied firmly to Harry's left shoulder. There wasn't an arm attached to it.

"Oh, and I killed Pettigrew. He went down as easy as apple pie." Harry added as an afterthought. "I can't imagine how a man like that could be strangled so easily."

"Ah."

As they descended the staircase to rejoin Fenrir, who was allegedly keeping an eye on Bellatrix and Peter's body, Harry said,

"Did you tell the Ministry that the war is over yet?"

000

End chapter 35


	36. Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

The piece of parchment slipped from his fingers and weaved its way to the floor, where it brushed against the floorboards with a whisper and was still.

It was late Thursday afternoon, just two days before Bella was to get married, but she was the furthest thing from his mind right now. Rain beat against the roof, the only sound other than the crackling of his heater and his soft breaths. He tried to focus on breathing, but the more he tried to calm down, the more uneven it became. His knees went weak.

Jacob sat numbly on his bed, and then his body slid forward, inverting itself until the blood rushed to his head and made the spots behind his eyeballs hurt. Still, he didn't sit up. He felt like all the air had been sucked out of him, replaced with smog.

Harry was…dead?

Distantly, he heard the phone ring. He didn't, couldn't move, despair flooding every atom of his constitution. It rang several more times before it went to answering machine, and a tiny corner of his mind noted that his dad was probably out with his friends or else he would've answered it.

The machine beeped, signaling a new message. An achingly familiar voice crackled over the phone system and he was on his feet and in the living before he even finished processing what he was hearing.

"Hey, um, Jacob; I hope I got your number right, or this is going to be very awkward." A nervous laugh he knew better than his own rasped through the phone. "It's Harry, Harry Potter, and I'm just calling to let you know that…well, obviously, I'm not dead. I'm really sorry about freaking you out by sending that last letter, but I didn't think that I could go through with it if I hadn't at least let you know what was going on. I'm at the airport, and will be boarding my flight super soon. I'll call again when I land to give you some more notice."

He breathed softly into the receiver before quietly adding, "I love you. Bye."

There was another beep, and then an automated female voice started listing options. He saved the message and pressed his back to the wall, sliding down until he was sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"Holy shit."

000

The next call came when he was buttoning up his dress shirt, getting ready to go to the Cullens. He was only invited because he was part of the wedding party, and Bella had insisted that he be there despite the obvious enmity between his tribe and the Cullens.

He was very happy that he would only have to deal with her obliviousness for the next couple of days before she was safely whisked away on her honeymoon.

The phone rang, and he heard his dad pick it up. A surge of hope perked him up, and he tried to swat it back before he could get too excited. He'd been jumping at the phone ever since Harry's first message, anxious that he not miss the next one.

"Jake? It's for you."

He dropped his tie, not caring if it got wrinkled on the floor, and sprinted into the living room. Billy had the phone pressed to his shoulder in lieu of putting it on hold, and his eyes were suspicious.

"it's some English kid."

"It's okay, dad, I know him. He's a friend from camp."

Billy raised his eyebrows. "Oh. Okay."

Jacob took the phone with him back to his room and shut the door before he shakily lifted it to his ear. He heard Harry humming under his breath as he waited and a giant smile of glee spread across his face.

"Hey." It came out as a whisper.

"Oh!" He could practically hear Harry blush. "Jacob?"

"Yeah, it's me. You sound good."

Harry laughed. "I feel good. I've had a tough time of it since we were last together."

"So you said in your letter."

Harry made an awkward noise. "Ah, sorry about that; I left a message on your phone…I don't know if you got it, but either way I apologized for being such a nervous prick. In my defense, I really did think that I was going to die." His voice dropped a couple octaves. "You deserved to know. I trust that you will give me some notice as well if you contract a terminal disease or are planning on cliff-diving."

Jacob grinned wider. "Alright, alright, you're forgiven. But I want an apology kiss when I see you. Where are you? Do you want me to come and get you?"

"Oh, you don't have to go out of your way to-"

Jacob cut him off. "Harry, it isn't out of my way. I seem to remember a certain 'PS' at the end of my letter from you, which I re-read entirely after I got over the 'dead' part."

He was quiet. "I didn't mean to put pressure on you, Jacob. You don't have to feel obligated to come and get me or anything unless you actually want to. I never understood couples that fawned over each other simply because they were dating, and if you're going to do me a favor, I'd prefer it to be genuine."

Jacob sighed. "Why do you have to make everything so complicated? Just tell me where you are before the phone goes dead."

"I'm at the Shell petrol station in Forks. I couldn't remember where you lived other than that it is close to Forks, so I got a cab from the airport. It's raining here…it feels like home."

"I'll be there in ten minutes. Wait for me."

"Alright. Love you. Bye."

And just like that, Harry hung up. Jacob set the phone down on his dresser, bent and picked up his tie, and then wrapped it around his neck, looping it appropriately. Harry would probably be jet-lagged from the flight, but he wasn't letting him out of his sight even if it meant dragging him to what was sure to be a very painful rehearsal dinner.

"Have fun, son!" Billy called after him as he swept through the house, returning the phone to its place and pulling his hood up.

"Thanks!" he replied just as sarcastically and strode out to his car, feeling like he was walking on air.

The drive had never seemed so long, and he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel the entire time, nervously checking his hair in the mirror whenever he hit a stop sign. The rain continued to pour, just the same as always, and the forest closed in around him. He found himself appreciating how beautiful Washington was, even if it was a rather damp sort of beauty.

At last he pulled into the tiny gas station, and spied a figure standing under the flimsy awning by the shop wearing a heavy trench coat with a hooded sweatshirt underneath it. A trunk was beside him, and a covered cage that he was fairly sure contained a certain surly owl. A passing car's lights illuminated a single thick lock of black hair protruding from beneath it and his heart skipped a beat.

He got out of his car and walked across the cracked parking lot, wanting to run but knowing better than to try to do that in this kind of rain. The figure turned when it heard him approach, and let out a gasp.

"Hey!"

Harry tried to run towards him, slipped in a pothole disguised as a harmless puddle, and fell. Jacob laughed and reached his side, offering his hand to help him up. Even though it was dark, lit only haphazardly by the street lamps on the outskirts of the parking lot and the yellow Shell sign, he could tell that there was something not right with one of Harry's arms.

Harry took his hand and let himself be pulled against his chest.

"Hello." He greeted again, wrapping one arm around his neck and standing on his toes to kiss him gently on the cheek. "There, that's my apology kiss."

Jacob smiled despite his confusion, and wrapped his arms around him. There was _definitely_ something wrong with Harry's left arm. It felt like…like nothing. Like there was nothing but a couple of layers of sleeve with nothing inside.

Even though this wasn't what he wanted his first words to be, he asked, "Harry, what happened to your arm?"

Harry turned his head away, and the new angle allowed the light to filter through his eyes and make them shine with inner depths. There were marks on his face. Maybe eight slashes about half the length of a pinky were scattered across Harry's forehead, cheeks, nose, and chin. His lips were miraculously untouched, although slightly chapped.

"Jacob…I could've been killed. I'm lucky that the fight only took my arm, no matter how odd it feels not having it."

"Oh, sweet Jesus…" he whispered, reaching up to carefully stroke the new scars. Harry closed his eyes and leaned forward to press his forehead to his chest, catching his hand with his and gave it a squeeze.

"I should've said something on the phone."

"No, no, its better that I found out this way." Jacob replied, wrapping an arm around Harry's shoulders and leading him to his truck. "Come on; let's get you in the car. No, you sit." He pressed Harry back into his seat when he made to get out. "Just wait here. I'll get your stuff."

Harry sat in the car, and reached over to switch on the radio. He turned the volume down until it was nothing but a pleasant buzz of faintly musical sound and leaned his head back, staring up at the roof of Jacob's truck. There were band stickers and other such decorations on it.

Jacob opened the door and shoved the trunk back behind his seat and then carefully handed Hedwig's cage to Harry.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Jacob smiled. He looked at Harry without saying a word, and Harry looked steadily back. He leaned forward and kissed him as gently as a cautious little boy. "I'm so glad you're here. I can keep you safe now, and make sure no other parts of you go missing."

Harry laughed. "Oh, gee, thanks. Am I supposed to believe that you'll do me this favor for free?"

He snorted. "Of course not! I was actually kind of hoping that you would come with me tonight."

"Oh? Where to?"

"Uh…Bella's rehearsal dinner, actually; its tonight and there's no way I can get out of it, and I don't want to let you out of my sight."

Harry bit his lip. "Will it be, you know, okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?"

Harry turned and raised his eyebrows at him as they stopped at a light. "Are you out of the closet yet or are we going as 'friends'?"

"I'm ready to come out if you are."

A mischievous look flickered through Harry's eyes. "Bring the bitch-fest on."

000

End chapter 36

No, they did not fling themselves at each other like hormonal junior-high kids. Deal with it.


	37. Chapter 37

A/N: All of you should be very happy that I don't celebrate Halloween: this means that you get the chapter sooner!

CHAPTER 37

The Cullen's house was lit up with thousands of Chinese lanterns, made of plastic rather than the traditional paper in the face of the rain, hanging in garlands from the trees that lined their drive. There were flowers in the windows, and a new doormat on the floor outside the door.

"Are we late?" Harry asked, looking amused too see that most of the parking space was already occupied.

"Yeah; there was a certain something that I had to fetch before I came here, you know." Jacob teased, at last deciding to just park his car as close to the flower beds hugging the house as he dared. When he stepped out he crushed a lily by accident and winced.

"What's the matter?"

He held up the severed flower. "I killed this."

"Oh. Well, all is not lost. You now have a button-hole." Harry walked to the front of the car and reached inside Jacob's coat to find his jacket lapel. He tucked the lily into it and then patted his chest with a smile. "There: we now support recycling, which makes us better people for some reason. Come on; let's go in before all of the food is gone. All they serve on airplanes is peanuts and crisps, so I'm starving!"

Jacob smiled and wrapped his arm around him, supporting him as they stumbled up the slippery steps. "Here, I'll help you."

"Thanks." Harry whispered. "If it's this rainy all the time here, I might need a lot of help keeping my balance."

He hummed in acknowledgement and rang the bell. The Vampires probably knew that they were coming when he was a mile away, but they were waiting for them to ring the bell in order to keep up appearances for their human guests.

It swung open several moments later, and Carlisle smiled politely at Jacob. His eyes flickered to Harry, confusion flickering through his face.

"Ah, we didn't know that you were bringing a friend, Jacob. I will have someone lay out another place for him. Please come in…" He stood to the side, and Harry smiled at him as he passed.

"It's lovely to meet you! I'm Harry, Jacob's boyfriend." Harry held out his hand, a cheerful but tired smile on his face, and Carlisle shook it numbly. Jacob nearly burst out laughing from the look on his face. He hadn't had much interaction with Carlisle, but he did know that the doctor was normally unflappable, so his wide-eyed look of befuddlement was priceless.

Harry swept on past him, wriggling out of his trench. Jacob helped him untangle the empty sleeves on his left side, and Harry kissed his cheek.

"Thanks, babe. I guess you'll be helping me out a lot with things like this."

Jacob shrugged. "Lucky for you I don't mind. I've taken care of my dad for years and never minded it. I'll just think of this as an excuse to grope you 'by accident' in public."

He snickered. "I'm sure we can work some kind of system out."

Alice rounded the corner, a platter of finger sandwiches in her hands and a welcoming smile on her face. Her eyes flickered from Jacob to Harry, then to Harry's arm-less sleeve. Her eyebrows went up.

"Hello." Harry greeted, waving a little. "I know I wasn't expected, but I hope that it won't be too much bother for me to lurk around this fine establishment."

She smiled. "Of course not! We're very happy to have you- there is more food here than we can manage."

Harry surveyed her. "I can see that. You don't look like you can manage much food at all."

Alice giggled. "Oh, thank you! Anyway, let me take your coats. Everyone is through the door on the left. We'll have the actual rehearsal in about ten minutes now that you're here, Jacob."

He nodded, handing over his coat and Harry's. "Thanks, Alice. Its, uh, nice to see you, by the way."

Her eyes twinkled. "And its nice to see you and your _friend."_

"Oh, actually I'm his boyfriend, not his friend." Harry butted in politely, the very picture of innocence. "Although I like to think that we're friends as well, since that's how it started. Isn't that right, Jake?"

"Yeah, that's right." Jacob agreed, slipping his arm around Harry's stomach and pulling him against his side, giving him a little squeeze. "Come on, Harry, let's not keep her standing here with our coats. We'll see you later, Alice!"

She nodded, amber eyes a little wider than they'd been before.

The living room contained the rest of the wedding party with the addition of Jessica and Angela's parents and a large golden retriever.

Bella was standing by the windows with her bridesmaids, with the exception of Rosalie, talking excitedly and flushed with excitement. A faint hint of bitterness lingered around Jessica's mouth, and harry wrinkled his nose at her when Jacob pointed her out.

"That's the girl that I'm taking down the aisle tomorrow."

"Yuck."

Jacob elbowed him, surprised. "Hey now, don't be nasty. It's not like I had a choice. Her boyfriend was too much of a dick to be a groomsman for Edward, so I had to step in. Otherwise she wouldn't get to be a bridesmaid at all."

Harry chewed his lip, nodding. "Okay. Let's find somewhere to sit- I'm tired."

Jacob found a spot between Emmett, who had Rosalie sprawled across him in her usual lounging pose, and Charlie. Charlie smiled at Jacob and slapped his arm when he sat.

"Thank god you're here. We couldn't start without you and I'm getting pretty hungry."

"Oh…wow. In that case, I'm sorry about being late. I didn't realize that they couldn't practice anything without me."

Charlie shrugged, wordlessly passing them a plate of finger sandwiches that was sitting on a nesting table by his end of the couch. "It's fine with me. I always forget about how complicated weddings are until you're in one."

"Speaking of that, how are you feeling about giving Bella…well, how are you?"

Charlie shrugged again. "I'm as well as can be. I wasn't expecting to give her away for at least another five years, but here we are." He peered around Jacob and caught sight of Harry, who'd garnered the attention of Emmett after he devoured the entire plate of sandwiches in short order. "Who's he?"

"Oh, him? He's my boyfriend, Harry. I was late because I had to pick him up. He just flew into the country." He turned and tapped Harry on the shoulder to spare himself whatever look signified Charlie's first impression. "Harry, this is the bride's father, Chief Charlie Swan of the Forks police force."

Harry reached over Jacob and shook Charlie's hand. Charlie now looked a lot more composed than he had for the scant few seconds during which Jacob was facing the opposite direction.

"Cheers. You know, I used to want to be in the police force, although I think that I'd have a bit more trouble getting a position now, if you know what I mean."

Charlie shook his head. "If you become a legal citizen of this country, there is nothing standing in the way of you swearing in. We, uh, don't discriminate against gays. There doesn't seem to be much point in doing so when you consider that my best officer has a life partner."

Harry blinked. "That wasn't what I meant, but that is comforting to know. I meant that I might have trouble _physically, _on account to only having one arm."

"Oh." Charlie turned a bit red and looked away, pretending to be engrossed in his glass of punch. "So…does Billy know about this? He didn't say anything to me."

Jake scratched the back of his neck. "Not exactly; I'm planning on telling him tonight when we get home, or tomorrow morning if he's asleep by the time this thing ends."

He nodded. "I'd save it for the morning if I were you. That way, if things don't go as smoothly as can be hoped for, nobody goes to bed angry. I've always said that going to bed angry is one of the worst things that you can let yourself do."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Alice pranced into the room just then, followed by Carlisle and a man in a priest's collar. "The minister is ready, so let's all come out to the back and get this rehearsal started!"

000

The wedding was to be held in a large white tent attached to the back of the house. It was lit with more of the Chinese lanterns, and rolls of white carpet had been laid down across the soggy grass within and littered with pink petals. Thirty white chairs, fifteen on each side of the center aisle, were arranged in front of a wooden platform. A white wicker arch, decorated with garlands of pink roses and white chrysanthemums, dominated the little stage. There was a small podium off to the side, draped with tulle, on which Harry assumed they would be signing their contract.

"Holy shit." Jacob whispered. "I helped set up some of this stuff, but Alice and the girls assembled it. This is my first time seeing all of it put together."

Harry chuckled. "_You _handled pink fluff?"

"Shut up!" Jacob hissed. "Bella can be very persuasive."

"Whatever, lover boy. I'm going to go find a seat and let you muck your way through this." He stood on his toes and kissed his cheek. "Good luck."

Rosalie, who had witnessed their moment of affection, sent Jacob a questioning look. He childishly stuck out his tongue at her and got into his place beside Jessica. He caught her looking at him and she looked away quickly, blushing.

The ceremony itself was pretty straight-forward, and nothing went seriously wrong other than Bella bursting into tears when it was over. She flung herself into Edward's arms, and he dragged her off somewhere to soothe her while everyone else found their way into the dining room to eat.

"This is lovely." Harry complimented to no one, slipping into the seat originally meant for Jessica. She sat stiffly on his other side, and glared at him for several minutes until she noticed his empty sleeve moving slowly back and forth as he got himself comfortable. She turned a bit green and didn't look in his direction for the rest of the evening.

He traced the rim of his glass, and looked up to meet the eyes of a woman whose looks would normally have been quite stunning if it weren't for the Cullens, all of whom could very well have been air-brushed by some cosmic being. She smiled and raised her glass in friendliness.

"Hello there." She greeted. "I'm the bride's mother, Renee. Are you a friend of hers? I'm trying to get to know all of the people she knows here in Forks."

"Oh, I'm not from around here." Harry smiled sheepishly. "I'm actually an unexpected guest; I just flew into the country today. I don't know either the bride or the groom."

Renee blinked, but then brushed off her surprise. "I see. I love your accent…where are you from?"

"Surrey, England, but I went to school in Scotland."

"Well, that's a long flight if that's where you came from. Who do you know here?"

"Jacob." He laid his hand on Jacob's forearm and smiled up at him. Jacob winked at him, smiling. "I'm his boyfriend."

Renee looked stunned, and Harry heard Jessica choke on her water.

"Oh my! Well, that was unexpected. Jacob, I never would've guessed." She smiled. "I thought you had a crush on Bella! You always liked her when you were little, although I don't know how well you two get on these days since it's been years. Speaking of that, how old _are _you, Jacob?"

"I turned seventeen not too long ago." Jacob smiled, trying not to laugh at how quickly she was getting away from the subject of Harry and him. "I'd ask how old you were if I didn't already know the answer to that one."

"Oh ho!"

Jacob grinned. "You're not a day over thirty, isn't that right?"

Renee giggled, sounding shockingly similar to Bella as she did so. "Oh dear…perhaps it's a good thing that you aren't into girls. You'd be quite the heart breaker."

He hugged Harry to his side. "There's no chance of me going back now. Harry's changed my life."

Throughout the dinner they would notice the Cullens looking at them and then looking at another member of their family meaningfully. Harry was fascinated with the way they communicated the new information among themselves, even when the groom's lips curled up in an expression of uncalled-for disgust. When the groom, Edmund or Elfred or something, looked at him, he frowned. The disgust faded away in the face of confusion. He even looked at him very hard and squinted, which made him look like he was constipated.

Harry decided that he'd rather not know what he was trying to do.

They must be very close knit, he mused, for them to be able to share that kind of information with their faces. Maybe he and Jacob would get to know each other's faces that well some day, and start finishing each other's sentences like Fred and George.

He smiled happily and took a bite of his pasta, pressing his sneaker-clad foot against Jacob's under the table. Jacob brushed his fingers against his side under the table, a soft look in his eyes that made Harry's stomach squirm with delight.

000

After the dinner, while they were putting on their coats in the entry way, Harry overheard a conversation going on in the kitchen. He paused and pricked up his ears, catching his name.

"…and did you know that he's dating Jacob Black?"

"What?" It was Bella's voice. "Since when? Jacob never said anything to me! Anyway, Jacob can't be gay. He's in love with _me."_

He grinned and let Jacob finished putting his coat on.

"Cheers."

Jacob kissed him quick. "Yeah, cheers."

Out in the car, Harry scooted across the slim space between them on the bench and snuggled against Jacob's side.

"Is it always so cold here? I hope Hedwig's going to be okay; she's sleeping now but she won't be tomorrow and she can be a real bitch about things like the weather."

Jacob took some gum out of his pocket and offered some to Harry. "It's usually cold at night, and of course it rains all the fucking time, but it does warm up to the 80s in the summer."

"Oh." Harry pressed his nose into Jacob's armpit and drifted slowly off to sleep.

000

End chapter 37


	38. Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

Jacob flicked on the light in his bedroom and stumbled slightly when Harry leaned all of his weight on him, nuzzling his face into his back muscles.

"Um, Harry, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry mumbled, wrapping his arms around his stomach, snuggling deeper into his warm back. He inhaled his skin and sighed deeply. "Come on, just dump my trunk anywhere. There's nothing fragile in it. Let's go to bed."

"Fine by me." Jacob put his trunk in the corner of his not-very-big room and Hedwig's cage on top of it. He opened it, hearing the slick rustle of Harry peeling off his wet clothes in the background. Hedwig raised her wing and blinked at him before stretching her wings and crawling out of her cage.

He opened the window for her and watched her fly out in the cold night to acclimate to her new environment.

Turning, he got a flash of Harry's illuminated shoulder blades and the scarred stump where his left arm used to be. Harry climbed into his bed and pulled the covers over his head like a small child in a thunderstorm, curling into himself and shivering. Where his hair stuck up out of the cover, he could see a few drops of rain water seeping into his pillow.

Smiling, he stripped and pulled on a pair of sleep pants and a shirt before taking an extra shirt. Harry was already breathing slowly and deeply, his eyes flickering vaguely in the dim light of his closet light bulb, close to sleep. He unbuttoned the sleep shirt and dressed Harry in it, taking especial care with his left shoulder. The skin there was pink and tender-looking, and Harry winced when he tugged the sleeve over it too hard.

"Sorry."

"It's alright. The doctors say that the twinges will eventually fade to almost nothing."

"Oh. Well, good." He got up and turned off the closet light, working his way through the dark to lie down beside him as best as he was able within the narrow confines of his bed. Harry was skinny, but _he _wasn't, and their shoulders simply did not want to rest side-by-side. At last, after several awkward moments of shuffling and shifting, Harry wrapped his arm around his neck, wriggling on top of him just like he did at summer camp.

He kissed him sloppily, lips bumping more against his chin than his mouth. "Good night, Jake."

"Good night."

000

The next morning Jacob awoke alone. He sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and tried to remember why he felt like somebody had ripped off half of his body without so much as a by-your-leave.

He heard the shower running and glanced over at his alarm. It was six in the morning. His dad normally didn't wake up for another hour, and certainly wouldn't be in the shower right now unless-

Oh. Harry was here.

He flushed and got out of bed, getting dressed in a hurry. Just as he was pulling a pair of comfortable socks from his drawer, he remembered that today was Bella's wedding and changed back into his pajamas, feeling very embarrassed for forgetting it. He brushed his teeth in the kitchen and got to work making breakfast. Bella's wedding was scheduled for three in the afternoon, and she wanted the entire wedding party to be there by noon for sandwiches, any last-minute planning, and the photographs.

Making extra food, he was soon too engrossed in the sizzling bacon to hear Harry sneak up on him.

At the last moment, just as Harry raised his hand to scare him, his wolf snapped to attention and smelled him coming. His scent was muffled by soap and scented shampoo, but it was still there. He turned and caught his hand, squeezing it carefully.

Harry smiled and winked at him. "Is any of that for me?"

"The food? Yeah. Just to let you know, my dad will be up in about half an hour, so…um…were you thinking of planning out beforehand how to tell him or should we just wing it and hope for the best?"

"I don't know…let me think about that for a bit." Biting into a piece of toast, Harry leaned against the counter and stared thoughtfully into the distance, lost in thought. His towel shifted a little lower, and he adjusted it casually. Jake gulped and went back to making breakfast, fully aware that staring too hard at Harry would no doubt result in something unfortunate. Namely, his dad walking in on them and getting an eyeful of, beyond a shadow of a doubt, just what kind of preferences his son had.

He heard his dad's door open, and then the soft squeak of his wheelchair.

"Harry, on second thought, maybe we should've made sure that you were wearing clothes beforehand."

Harry turned red. "Oh! Oh, shoot…this is going to look bad, isn't it?"

"Yep."

His dad rounded the corner and stopped when he saw Harry. His eyes skated down from Harry's scarred face to his arm stump, the various scars littering his torso, and finally rested on the towel. His eyebrows went up and he turned to Jacob with a humorously expectant look on his face.

"I suppose now would be a good time for you to tell me who our unexpected guest is, son."

Jacob coughed. "Uh, yes, this is…this is Harry. Harry, this is my dad Billy."

Harry reached down and shook his hand. "It's an honor to meet you sir."

His face scrunched in thought. "Were you the kid I spoke to last night over the phone?"

"Yeah!"

He looked at Jacob again, who squirmed a little. "Why didn't you tell me he was coming over?"

Jacob shrugged helplessly. "I was in too much of a hurry…and I had to go to the rehearsal…I'm sorry. I should've said something."

Billy sighed and then wheeled into his customary place at the table. "It's fine."

He went back to cooking and then divided the food between three plates. Harry raised his eyebrows at him when he tried to give him the largest portion and took a smaller one. "Don't even try to fool me like that, Jake. I know that you need the most food out of all of us: you're the size of a moose!"

He blushed and took the plate heaped highest with food and sat down, patting the seat beside him for Harry to sit in.

Just as he was about to take the first bite, his stomach jumped and twisted itself into a snake nest. He decided that he wasn't to be able to eat anything unless he told his dad the rest of the story. He set down his fork. "Dad?"

Billy grunted, slicing his egg with the side of his fork.

"There's something I need to tell you."

"Okay, shoot."

He almost backed down, but a soft look from Harry rallied his nerves. "Harry and I are dating."

Billy paused, and then took a bite of egg. He chewed slowly, looking between the boys. Harry tried to smile politely but it came out as more of a grimace. Everybody else and what they thought of them could go to hell, but if Jacob's dad didn't approve of him…

"Okay. I would've liked to have known about this for however long it's been going on, but it's your decision. If Charlie can let his daughter marry that-" He trailed off when he looked at Harry, "Well, if Bella Swan can get married at eighteen, you can certainly date another boy if it makes you happy."

"Thank you so much, dad!" Jacob threw himself out of his chair and knelt beside his chair, his arms around his neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Billy smiled for the first time that morning, patting his son on the back. He jerked his head at Harry. "Come here, kid. Anyone dating my son gets a hug too."

Harry joined the group hug, laughing. "Thank you for letting me date him."

Billy shrugged. "I've known Jacob his whole life. My disapproval would only hurt him, not change his relationship with you."

000

They held hands as they walked up the stairs to the Cullen's house, and the door opened before Jacob could knock. Rosalie looked them over disdainfully and stepped aside to let them through. "Come in. Before you ask, Bella is upstairs in Alice's room getting dressed, and Edward is in Carlisle's study having a man-to-man chat. We could use some help in the kitchen, though."

Harry grinned. "Well, since you're the one doing the asking, I'm sure that I don't mind helping you."

She frowned more than she already was, leading the way to the kitchen. "What do you mean by that?"

Harry shrugged. "You just don't seem the type to ask for things very often. I'm looking at this situation as an event similar to a lunar phenomenon or a mass migration that I happened to witness. One of nature's miracles, you could say."

She huffed and stepped into the kitchen, where Esme was surrounded by mountains of food and a catering staff of three interchangeable young women. Harry suspected that most of them were named Sara. They also may or may not have been sisters.

"Hello boys!" Esme waved cheerfully. "Have you come to help me make sandwiches? Jacob, there are aprons in the cabinet over there. Please wear one so that the bride doesn't have a breakdown in case you spill something on your suit."

Jacob nodded and took out too, tossing one to Harry.

000

Harry found a seat in the second row next to some of Bella's distant cousins who flew up for the wedding. Billy Black sat on his other side, looking uncomfortable despite himself. A small girl sitting beside him hadn't stopped gaping at the place where his left arm ought to have been for the past five minutes. He was getting very tempted to turn around real quick and go 'boo!'

He resisted only because he didn't want to make anybody too angry. People already had a lot of issues with his sexuality, whether or not they said anything to his face, and he didn't like to add fuel to the fires of prejudice. People could hate him all they liked, but if his behavior was above reproach, they were the ones who looked like assholes at the end of the day.

The music started up. Turning, he watched the Angela and some kid come walking down. Angela's face was bright pink and she kept smiling at everyone as she went. They were followed by Rosalie and Emmett, and then Jacob and Jessica.

Behind them were Alice and Jasper, the maid of honor and best man, but he didn't give a shit about them. Jacob looked positively dashing, even though he was wearing a pink waistcoat as per Bella's color scheme. He met Harry's eyes and smiled brilliantly at him.

He smiled back, feeling his cheeks turn pink. When he managed to tear his eyes away, it was to find Jessica glaring at him in between sending the photographer smiles. He rolled his eyes at her. What was her problem? From what he'd heard, she already had a boyfriend. She had no business putting her hands on his man.

The wedding march started up once everyone was in place on the stage, and he turned to watch Bella walk down the aisle, her arm tucked into Charlie's. She was apparently wearing very high heels because she looked noticeably taller and was walking very slowly. He held his breath, already knowing what was going to happen.

They made it down half the aisle before she tripped, slipping out of Charlie's grip and crumpling onto the floor face-first. There was a collective gasp, which concealed Harry's snort of laughter. Jacob was biting his lip, eyes full of glee.

Edward looked more pinched than usual. Harry almost lost control of his laughter when he saw his face. Hopefully someone would catch that on camera, to forever immortalize this moment.

Charlie helped her to her feet, but Bella jerked forward once again and balanced her weight on one leg. There was a furious whispered conversation and then Charlie continued with her down the aisle at an even slower pace. Instead of handing her over, he reached out and commandeered the nearest unoccupied chair and set it on the stage, guiding Bella into it. She sank down gratefully.

She'd twisted her ankle, and the rest of the ceremony was done with her seated.

000

End chapter 38

Are enough of you happy about this form of righteous pay-back for Bella's bitchiness?


	39. Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

It was raining again, but they sat on the porch anyway and watched the rain slowly form puddles. As the water level slowly rose, the puddles merged together and became larger puddles, forming streams through the muddy driveways that were visible from the porch.

"Shouldn't you be in the shop?"

Jacob shrugged, tugging at the collar of his sweatshirt. It was a typical cold spring day, but he was burning up under his sweatshirt. His dad was just inside, and would probably comment if he took it off, though. "There isn't anything in there other than a folder or two that ought to be filed. It's just five minutes of work- it can wait until the next time I need to be there."

"Oh." Harry looked away from him and back out at the rain. "He doesn't know, does he?"

"Pardon?"

Harry jerked his head towards the window, through which they could see Billy watching something on TV with Charlie Swan, the TV's blue light flashing across their faces. "Your dad. You haven't told him about the wolf thing, have you?"

Jacob sighed. "No, I haven't. It turns out that I'm not the only one in my tribe that can turn into a giant wolf at will. Almost all of the other guys here can do it, and they're all part of this big pack."

"Who's the Alpha?"

He raised his eyebrows. "How do you know about Alphas?"

Harry snorted. "It's common knowledge to anyone who's ever picked up a book on zoology that a wolf pack's power structure is based around the Greek alphabet, starting from top to bottom. The Alpha is often accompanied by a Beta, or right-hand man…er, wolf."

"Point taken. Their leader is this guy Sam Uley, and he knows my dad pretty well along with all of the other elders in our tribe. Apparently my ancestor was the last Alpha, so he feels morally obligated to try and be nice to me as well."

"Poor you…people being nice to you left and right, none of them giving a damn about asking whether you even wanted them to stop treating you like shit."

"Shut up."

Harry just laughed and drank some of his tea. He'd had to convince Jacob to take him to the store to buy some, since apparently nobody in his house drank the stuff. "Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing you. I really do think that you should tell your dad, though. Who knows? Maybe they'll let you join this pack of theirs. You might really like it."

He shook his head. "No, I can't be a part of their pack. I'm not a team player. The only team I want to be on is ours. Just you and me, and nobody else butting in. I've heard that the wolf pack can hear each other's thoughts when they're wolves…I don't know about you, but there is no way that I am going to let anybody on this Reservation know what you look like when you..."

Harry turned red and tried to hide behind his mug. "Okay, I see what you mean. Does this make you a lone wolf?"

"I guess so." He shifted his weight, pulling his legs up and away from the wind-blown rain. "Are you okay with my decision? Your opinion is important to me."

He looked at him with seriousness. Reaching over, he set down his mug and squeezed his hand. "You're the wolf. If being part of a pack isn't what you want to do for the rest of your life, then fine. But I still think that you should tell your dad, though. He's accepted us, and he's even letting me stay with you guys. If he can be that accepting, then surely you admitting that you're a wolf just like so many other blokes around here should be just another drop in the bucket."

He bit his lip, and met Harry's eyes. They crinkled at the corners as he smiled at him.

"You know what, I will. I'll tell him as soon as Charlie leaves. Does that sound okay?"

Harry nodded. He took a sip of his tea, turning to look back at the rain. "How do you think Bella is doing right now?"

Jacob sniggered against his will. "Oh god, she gets to spend her wedding night with a…"

Harry frowned when he trailed off. "With a what? A homophobic prick?"

"Yeah!" Jacob grinned, relieved. "Sorry, I couldn't think of a suitable insult for a second there."

They laughed, and he relaxed even though the too-clever look in Harry's eyes for a moment there worried him. Harry wasn't stupid, and even though he accepted his furrier side without fuss, he couldn't count on him being just as willing to handle real-life Vampires.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Harry sighed. "You've gone all moody…do you want me to go inside? I like to be alone when I'm upset, and I'm willing to let you have some time to yourself if you need to sort something out."

He caught his arm before he could walk away. "No, please stay."

Harry smiled and made to sit back down but Jacob pulled him onto his lap, sliding him sideways and holding him close.

"Oh, you're really warm! If I'd known, I would've sat on you from the start." Harry nuzzled his cheek into his collar, and Jacob sighed at the relief. Harry's cheek was very cool, and soothed away some of the feverish heat rolling off of him in waves.

Behind them, Charlie and Billy watched them together with thoughtful looks on their faces.

000

"Those two are awfully lovey-dovey." Charlie noted blandly, popping a potato chip into his mouth. "I'd keep a sharp eye out if I was you. Boys don't have the same scruples that most girls do."

"There isn't a point to watching them. They sleep in the same bed, and I know that they're not virgins."

"Shit. Well, at least you don't have to worry about one of them getting pregnant."

Billy laughed. "That's true."

"Has anybody on the Rez given you problems about the boys?"

"Nobody knows yet. I called the girls and let them know, and they both are eager to meet Harry. They didn't seem upset about it."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

Charlie squinted at Harry. "Have you got any idea on how Harry lost his arm and got all of those scratches on his face?"

Billy shook his head. "Not a clue. I don't want to ask. Don't get me wrong; Harry isn't a Nancy boy, gay or not, and I know that he wouldn't get all sensitive about it. I just don't want to know yet. He doesn't exactly strike me as the innocent type. Jake's hinted that Harry is in and out of trouble a lot, but that he's past that now. I don't know if I believe him. We'll just have to watch and wait."

"Well, I am ready and willing to help if he proves to be some kind of criminal."

000

"Hey, uh, dad?" Jake coughed, putting his hands on his hips nervously.

"Yes, son?"

"I changed."

Billy looked away from the TV with a puzzled frown. "What? What do you, you changed? You look the same to me."

"I mean that I became a wolf. Um, I can transform and everything."

Billy jerked so hard that he almost fell out of his chair. "That's great! Come here, son!"

Jacob knelt beside him and let his dad squeeze the life out of his neck, laughing. Harry watched from the doorway to the kitchen with a smile, eyes warm and pine green in the soft lighting from the TV and the kitchen.

"Get me the phone; I want to call Sam and tell him that he has a new pack member!"

Jacob froze. "Well, you see…there's more to it than that."

"What?" Billy frowned, confused. "Did you tell him first?"

"N-No." He twisted his fingers. "I didn't transform just now. I transformed last year, in England."

Billy's eyes couldn't have been any wider without the eyeballs popping out of their sockets. "I…how…why didn't you say something?"

He shrugged. "At first I thought I was the only one, so I got scared and kept it a secret from everyone but Harry, who walked in on me and figured it out. It wasn't until I had a confrontation with Sam in the woods over whose territory was whose that I realized that there must be more than just me. And then you and Sam explained to me what was going on and warned me about the lone wolf, who was and is me, and I decided that saying something right then would be a bad idea."

Billy was speechless. In the background, Harry winced.

"What?"

Jacob put his face in his hands.

"Oh god…I'm sorry, dad, I should've told you."

Billy blinked. "So, let me get this straight. You've been a wolf the _entire time?"_

"Yes."

"If…if you transformed while in England, you were the first."

"Sorry?" Jacob looked up, confused. "The first what?"

"The first to become a wolf. Sam didn't transform until October of last year."

He shrugged. "Okay, cool, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"It means that you were the one that the genes chose to be the Alpha this time around."

000

End chapter 39


	40. Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

Jacob blinked for a few moments, letting that revelation sink in. then he shrugged. "I guess it's lucky that Sam is here, then."

Billy frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's good that the pack still has a leader, because I have absolutely no intention of guiding them. I'm a lone wolf, and that's that." He shook his head gently. "I'm sorry if my decision disappoints you, dad, but I don't want to control and influence the lives of my peers."

Instead of yelling at him or even frowning, Billy's face broke into a wide grin. "I'm very proud of you. That is exactly what I would've decided if I were in your place."

Jacob looked up. "It is?"

"Yes. But, now that I know you're a wolf, there are some things that I didn't tell you about in the legends hat you should know. Harry, come sit over here. If you already know about him turning into a wolf then you should hear this as well because it affects you both."

Harry slipped from the doorway and sat on the sofa across from them. Jacob got up from the floor and sat beside him, seizing his hand and cradling it within his own after a tense moment. Harry gave his hand a supporting squeeze and smiled at him. "Okay, dad, I'm ready. What new freaky experiences am I going to have to endure?"

Billy laughed. "Oh, it's not as bad as the shock of the first transformation. This is a largely beautiful thing. Of course, in some situations it can sour immensely, but that isn't a common occurrence. What I'm going to tell you about is called Imprinting."

He nodded to show that he was listening.

"It's been romanticized and twisted amongst the young pack, but it is simply a process that points out whoever is ideally suited to you as a…a mate, I suppose, if we have to talk about this like it's an animal thing. You will experience an intense feeling of fascination, and most see gold light during their Imprint itself."

Jacob's eyes widened and his mind flashed back to that day in the cafeteria when Harry was bathed in golden light that he seemed to radiate. All the sound had just dropped away, and he felt like he was floating. That was the day he realized he was in love with him.

"Basically, it's like falling in love at first sight, and it never goes away. You can conceivably have a relationship with someone else after you've imprinted, but you won't ever be truly happy with anyone but the one you've imprinted upon."

Jacob looked over at Harry, and saw that he looked stricken. His hand was white-knuckled, and he winced from how tight he was gripping his hand.

"Does every wolf imprint?" The question had an edge to it, and Jacob suddenly knew what Harry was really asking.

"There is no way to record it for sure, but I think so." Billy looked at them sadly. "I…this is something that you will have to deal with amongst yourselves."

Harry breath hitched and he closed his eyes, not wanting to accept that their relationship, despite everything he'd done to fight for it, would be annulled just because of some crazy wolf mating gene.

"That won't be necessary." Jacob spoke up firmly. "I've already imprinted."

Harry stared at him, and Billy frowned.

"Are you sure? And on whom?"

"Who do you think?" He brought Harry's hand up and pressed it to his heart. "This was yours from the moment that I really saw what kind of person you are for the first time. I had the golden light and the narcotic-like sensation of wanting to be glued to you for all eternity somehow and everything. I imprinted for sure."

Harry opened his mouth to say something in reply, but ended up just gaping at him.

"I'm sorry that I didn't bring it up earlier. I thought it was just my own feelings and a trick of the light, even though I still see you in gold sometimes, Harry."

"Oh wow," Harry whispered. "Just…wow. I think I need to lie down or something. This is all a bit much to be learning at once."

"I'll help you." Jacob offered, and hauled Harry to his feet without waiting for him to accept or deny the favor. "Harry and I are going to have a nap, dad. Thanks for explaining this."

Billy smiled at their backs as they disappeared into Jacob's bedroom.

"My son is a wolf at last." He murmured, his only audience the family portraits and ticking clock hanging on the far wall. He grinned. He'd known it was only a matter of time.

000

Lying side by side, cramped very close together on account of the too-small bed, Harry slowly drifted off to sleep. Jacob ran his palm repeatedly down his back and then back up again, admiring the gray watercolor that the light from the window painted across his skin, gleaming through the window still pouring from the heavens.

He brushed his thumb against Harry's cheekbone and caught a flash of the tell-tale gold he'd now knew symbolized a union he was entirely ignorant of previously. He repeated the gesture until Harry rolled over to get away from the contact.

He smiled fondly at his bony back, eyes tracing a path down his jutting spine, roaming the many scars with the tips of his fingers. Harry had certainly been some kind of shit to get marked up like this. However, as sick as it might sound, he was happy for the scars. They were a reminder to him that Harry was just as fragile and human as he was. He resolved to hold onto him tightly.

Something tapped against the window.

Frowning, he sat up and winced when the bedsprings groaned loudly. He held his breath, watching Harry for signs of waking. Harry snuffled in his sleep and curled tighter in the blankets.

Getting gingerly out of bed, he tip-toed to the window and opened it. On the other side was a soaking owl about the size of his clenched fist with a letter tied to its ankle. It flapped inside his room before he could even process what it was and made itself comfortable perched on his headboard. It looked curiously down at Harry and chirped softly.

It was strangely cute, even though it was as wet as a rat and shivering. He thought for a moment and then rushed to the bathroom, grabbing a hand towel. Returning to his room, he stood awkwardly for a moment before he approached the owl, trying to look friendly.

It eyed him shrewdly and then seemed to relax. He cradled it in the towel and sat on the floor beside Harry. He untied the letter and set it aside, focusing on wrapping the bird comfortably. It nipped at his fingers lazily as it started to warm up, and he smiled, stroking its crest.

"You've certainly chosen a fine day to come flying secret letters."

A soft hoot was the only reply.

Settling the bird close to the heater, he reached over and picked up the curiously-dry letter. It was written on the same thick paper that Harry used for his letters to him. Harry's name was written across the front, and somebody had doodled a veritable garden of weird flowers across the bottom.

He'd never been more tempted to read somebody else's mail before in his life. He was saved from temptation when the little owl made a sneezing sound and toppled to one side, rolling from side to side.

Harry rolled over in his sleep and slowly blinked his way back to consciousness. He reached out and slipped on his glasses, mumbling to himself blearily. As his mind awoke, he caught sight of Jacob sitting by the bed with a very familiar owl in his hands.

"Pigwidgeon!"

Jacob jumped, turning to eye Harry with something akin to fear. "What the hell is a pig-whatever-you-said?"

But Harry wasn't listening. He held out his hands and the owl somehow wriggled its way out of Jacob's control to crawl into them. Harry held it to his chest and smiled down at it like it was an old toy.

"I haven't seen you in forever, you little stinker! Hedwig would never admit it, but she misses you."

Pigwidgeon clucked and made a dive for Harry's fringe.

"Ow! Jesus, okay, I get it. I'll get you something to eat." He turned his attention from the owl to Jacob, who was still watching the display with very wide eyes. "Oh, uh, this is my best friend's owl, Pigwidgeon. Pigwidgeon, this is Jacob. Be nice to him when you see him."

He saw the letter on the nightstand and pocketed it before rising. He headed into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge door, rooting around until he found some bread. He tore it into manageable pieces for the owl and sat at the kitchen table, patting the seat beside him. Jacob sat, watching the owl warily. It was cute, but the way it was tearing into the bread was a scary reminder that owls are predators.

Harry opened his envelope. Inside were five separate sheets of paper, one from each of his closest living friends, and one from Remus.

The one from Hermione was on top, so he read it first.

_Harry,_

_We heard about how the war ended, and everything that you did to contribute to it. I am very proud of you, and I want to say that I always knew you could do it! You're very talented when you put your mind to it._

_Now that I've stopped flattering you, where are you?! Mrs. Weasley is going mad, and the only reason she hasn't sent a Howler is because we don't know whether you're in the Muggle world or the Wizarding one. Honestly, Harry, you had better start preparing an essay now so you can explain yourself when she gets her hands on you. And then you should write another one for when _I _get my hands on you. _

_I'm staying at the Burrow to be close to Ron and everybody else, so, in case you decide to stop being an ass and come visit us, that is where you should aim for. We've magically expanded the place to hold all of the Order members because nobody wanted to set foot in Grimmauld place. The memories of that place are still too raw._

_I miss you!_

_Hermione_

_PS You do know that you have NEWTs this year, right?_

He groaned as he read her post script and set it aside, face-down. He didn't want Jacob to glance at it and catch the m-word.

Jacob got up and started to make himself a sandwich. One downside to being a giant wolf at will was that he was always hungry.

The second was from Ron.

_Harry,_

_I miss you and all and I understand that you need some space after the crazy stuff you had to go through, but you have got to get here quick, mate! My mum is going mental, and Hermione is forcing me to study for my NEWTs every waking second! I've taken to hiding in nooks and crannies to keep from getting kidnapped by her and forced to memorize yet more special color-coded charts and the bleeding Goblin Wars. You have got to get back here quick- I can't handle being the focus of her attention like this without you here to soften the blow!_

_Ginny won't stop talking about how brilliant you were in the war, by the way. You really impressed her (and everybody else). I think everyone has lost their marbles ever since you disappeared._

_Cheers!_

_Ron_

He bit his lip as he read the part about Ginny. Her letter was next, and it was scented and she'd used red ink. Thank god it was short. Taking a deep breath, he started to read it.

_Harry,_

_How are you? When are you coming back? I really, really miss you and think that we should have some private chats when you're done being on holiday. I have some things to tell you, and hopefully you'll have some things to tell me too!_

_Love,_

_Ginny_

He wrinkled his nose. He wasn't the best when it came to reading subtleties in letters, but he was pretty sure that Ginny's old crush was back full-strength once more. Her reaction to Jacob was not going to be pretty.

_Dear friend,_

_Everyone is very upset about you being gone. I just thought that you ought to know that. I'll let you hide in my closet when, or if, you come back. I wouldn't want to face down so many people. _

_Happy birthday!_

_Luna_

Blinking, he re-read Luna's letter. It didn't make much sense, but he was happy to see that at least one of his friends remembered his birthday, even if it had been months and months ago.

_Harry,_

_I don't know what to say, Harry. I understand more than you can know how important it is to have a bit of space after going through a traumatic event, and this war was certainly traumatic enough, but I do think that you should come back soon. The papers have latched onto your absence and the press are going mad, making up all kinds of stories about conspiracies and plots. The longer you're gone, the worse it will get. Most people are assuming you are dead._

_Tonks and I have settled down in a nice little cottage not too far from the Burrow and we are very happy here. Tonks still trips over everything in sight, and my furry problem hasn't gone away, but we are happy all the same. _

_I miss you and support any decisions that you might make. I am willing to correspond with you until you return if it will help you heal._

_Much love,_

_Remus Lupin_

_PS I'd keep an eye out for any Howlers that might come your way. Molly has been having a cow about this whole situation. War hero or not, you are still a little boy in her eyes and you ought to be in bed with a hot mug of soup as far as she's concerned._

Harry laughed out loud at Remus' post script, imagining the funny little smile that his godfather gave when he was making one of his sarcastic jokes. He chewed his fingernail, hearing Jacob curse as he rummaged for the elusive mustard. How was he going to explain to them that he was never coming back outside of the occasional unlikely visit?

000

End chapter 40

HA! Proper length for once. I'm sick, by the way, hence the nasty dwarfed updates.


	41. Chapter 41

CHAPTER 41

He dug through his trunk, searching for some parchment. He was running low, and would soon have to return to his pre-Hogwarts days of ballpoints and lined notepaper. At last he found his slender sheaf and prepared five separate sheets, adding a sixth when he remembered their consistent accounts of Molly Weasley's wrath. A sugary letter from him might dull the flames of hell slightly, and he was looking for any advantage he could get.

Pigwidgeon watched this with interest from Jacob's shoulder. Jacob fed him some of his baloney, and crossed the cramped floor of his room to settle heavily on the bed. Harry glanced up mid-search for his quills and shot him a smile.

"Hey there."

Jacob grinned and took a large bite of his sandwich, rearranging himself so that he could recline back against the headboard of his bed.

"Do all of your friends use owls?"

"Yeah. I told you about the old-fashioned aspects of my school, right?"

He nodded. "I remember. I couldn't believe it before, but now I guess I have to if your friends do it too."

"It's nice to know I'm trusted." Harry replied sarcastically, giving Jacob's leg a smack as he settled beside him and braced the parchment against his knee. He decided to reply to the letters in the reverse order that he'd read them in.

_Remus,_

_I'm still very much alive, no matter what the press has to say about it. I couldn't care less about what the reporters think of me. Anyone who believes what they write in the Prophet is too daft to deserve a real explanation anyway. Let them wonder. Thanks for telling me about it, though. I don't get the Prophet where I am and have no idea what they are saying about me in the news these days._

_Speaking of where I am, you are more than welcome to visit it, although you would have to find your own accommodations because it is cramped enough here with me intruding. I'm on a Quileute American Indian Reservation in Forks, Washington, U.S.A. with Billy Black and his son Jacob. Before you ask what I'm doing here in this rainy shithole of all places on earth, please understand that it would be a lot better if I explained this situation in person. I don't want there to be any unfortunate misunderstandings._

_I'm very happy to hear about you and Tonks. After everything you've both been through, you deserve some happiness. _

_Harry_

_PS You can come visit me any time you like, but do not tell anybody else (except maybe Tonks) where I am. I will tell them when I'm good and ready._

He set the letter aside to dry and picked up the next piece of parchment. Beside him, Jacob finished his sandwich and rifled through his nightstand for his radio.

"Do you mind if I turn this on? I won't blare anything, I promise."

Harry waved his hand casually, accidentally splattering them both lightly with ink. "Oops. That wasn't supposed to happen. Anyways, yes, you can. Its your room, after all, and I'm not adverse to music."

Jacob frowned at him playfully. "It's called _consideration, _Harry, in case they didn't teach that in your school."

"Fuck you." Harry snickered at his shocked expression and started writing to Luna.

_Dear friend,_

He didn't get any farther than that. Jacob snatched his writing supplies out of his hands and dumped them without ceremony on the floor. Harry opened his mouth to yell something along the lines of 'you bastard', but never got a chance to do so on account of Jacob suddenly rolling on top of him and attacking his mouth with his own.

He froze for a moment, and then relaxed into it and reached up to undo Jacob's hair band. He tossed it aside and carded his fingers through his long hair. They pulled apart for a moment to breathe, and Jacob smiled at him, hair falling into his face. He brushed it over his shoulder and bent back down to suckle gently on Harry's lower lip, fiddling with the elusive hem of Harry's shirt. At last he gave up on his blind efforts and fisted the material, jerking it up and over Harry's head. Harry snorted at him and made some smart remark about impatience that he cut off with a firm palm pressed against his groin.

Harry hissed and arched an inch off the bed. He curled one leg up and around Jacob, tensing the muscles to pull him closer. The tips of his rough fingers scratched gently across Jacob's stubbled jaw, and he initiated the next kiss, diving in head-first and scraping his tongue along his palate.

They pulled apart with a gasp and Jacob burrowed into Harry's neck, letting out a sigh when he felt Harry's hand blindly working up his thigh, squeezing his hip when he reached it.

"I missed this so much," he whispered, running his palms down Harry's ribs and across his hips. "I didn't realize how much I loved just having the freedom to touch you until we had to separate."

"Yeah…" Harry whispered, "Long distance sucks."

He laughed breathily and could not help but reach behind him to caress his glossy young shoulders, cupping the blades within his broad palms. Harry shifted impatiently against him.

"Hey! You are not going to just leave me hanging so you can cuddle. We can cuddle after you give me a thorough demonstration of how strong your bedsprings are!"

Giggling, and embarrassed to be doing so, he helped Harry undo his zipper and gripped the waist band. Harry was forced to untangle his legs from Jacob's waist and faked a sulk as he did so. As soon as his jeans and shorts had joined his parchment on the floor and Jacob was struggling out of his own clothes, Harry wrapped himself back around him and grabbed the back of his neck with his arm, pulling him back down.

"Harry," Jacob attempted to protest in between kisses, "this isn't fair; you're naked and I still have most of my clothes on. It's not as much fun when only one of us is naked."

"Fine, damn it! Just hurry up!"

Jacob stuck his tongue out at him and shimmied out of his shirt. Harry jerked on his jeans as best as he could but without much success since he could only grip one side at a time. Jacob yanked them down and rolled over onto his back to remove them from his calves. They lay over Harry's on the floor. Harry muttered something and crawled on top of him, covering his body with his own and connecting their mouths again.

He reached out for the nightstand, fumbling inside for the lotion he prayed that his dad would never discover.

"Oh, did you want to do it like this or should I roll over?" Harry muttered, seeming to notice their position for the first time. He tugged lightly on Jacob's when he didn't immediately answer, preoccupied with covering his fingers appropriately.

Jacob hummed. "I don't care. I'm sure that it'll be good either way."

"Some help you are." Harry pouted, deciding to roll over and bend his legs at the knees, patting the place between them when Jacob raised a questioning eyebrow. Jacob settled between them and resumed kissing him while he stretched him, easing first one finger in and then two, followed by a third when he remembered that he hadn't quite prepared him enough last time because he forgot to factor in his growth spurt. It was always a bit awkward at first before they got into the rhythm of it, and it helped when he could locate Harry's elusive prostrate. Harry's hips suddenly pressed fiercely down on his fingers when he crooked his index, and he grinned privately as Harry let out a shuddering moan. He'd found it. Harry tangled his fingers in his hair and lapped at his neck, forcing his body to relax around his fingers.

He slowly drew them out with a soft wet noise, and then bit his lip. He looked up and met Harry's eyes. Harry merely raised an eyebrow and teased, "Did you have any intention of doing this today?"

Instead of replying, he snapped his hips up in one fluid motion, gripping Harry's upper thighs. He groaned at the first blazing sensation of being inside of him, squeezing his eyes shut and letting his neck droop until his forehead rested against Harry's hot shoulder.

"I'll never get used to this." He mumbled. "How can you…you feel so…holy shit…"

"Just shut up." Harry muttered hoarsely, jerking his hips impatiently.

He withdrew slightly, and then pushed back in gently, going slower than usual to revel in the slick gripping sensation. Harry scowled at him even as his legs started to tremble slightly with pleasure.

Harry apparently got fed up after several more equally gentle thrusts and bucked against him, holding tightly onto his lower back. Jacob grunted in reply and immediately quickened the pace, straining his hips to press Harry back into the mattress with considerably more force than he'd anticipated. His bed protested loudly, and he was very glad that Billy was not home once the headboard started to slam against the wall with every move he made with his hips. Harry shrieked when he changed the angle on a whim, knowing full well that this would put the brunt of the pressure against his prostate, and the sound sent a thrill down his spine to join the coiling pit of ecstasy building in his belly.

He caught his mouth against his, panting against his lips. "Harry, I'm going to…are you…Ugh…" His hips slammed forward once more.

Harry arched off the bed just then, back bending impossibly, and let out a hoarse cry that drove Jacob mad. He could feel Harry's entire body vibrating and writhing against him as he orgasmed, and the sting of his nails digging into the back of his neck. He bent Harry practically in half as he bent forward to burrow his face into the pillow beside Harry's head, biting down on the cotton as he came, squeezing Harry's hips until they creaked and the tendons shifted beneath his grip. His body moved as though possessed, and he surrendered all control over to it, praying that Harry wouldn't mind his over-enthusiastic thrusts.

At last his body stilled, the tension going out of his muscles. He collapsed on top of Harry, who grunted but began to stroke his hair anyway. Harry liked to be crushed.

They didn't speak for quite a while, and Jacob tilted his head so he could watch Harry start to doze off. His insecurities surged, and he found himself asking the question that'd been plaguing him ever since he found out about the imprinting.

"Harry, I know that I will love you forever, but what if you fall out of love with me? Then what will we do? There might be a time when I no longer make you happy." He craned his neck and kissed his neck. "Babe, please answer me…don't fall asleep and leave me hanging this time."

"Stop worrying so much. All I need to make myself happy is being with you, and knowing that you're happy as well." Harry pressed his hot cheek to Jacob's neck and sighed. "Go to sleep already."

000

Two days after sending his replies, the doorbell rang while he was having breakfast with Billy. Jacob was at school, and they were discussing his career options and whether or not he ought to finish up his 'high school' education.

He opened the door, and found Remus Lupin on the doorstep, holding a package wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. He was smiling, but his amber eyes were watchful and alert. His nostrils were subtly flared, and it took Harry a moment to understand why.

He must have smelled the territorial scent of Jacob covering him head to toe. He flushed when he realized that Remus could probably tell how it had gotten there as well. Suddenly he wished that he'd taken a more thorough shower.

The spell was broken when Remus chuckled and asked, "What, are you going to stand there staring all day? What a cold welcome!"

"Remus!" Harry exclaimed, flinging his arms around his neck and laughing. "I am so glad to see you! I really wasn't expecting you so soon, though." He pulled back, sinking back from his toes to his heels. "Won't it make a fuss, with you just disappearing?"

Remus shrugged. "It can't possibly make more of a fuss than your little runner did."

He sighed. "Sadly, you are probably right. I guess saving all of Britain does make people rather interested in your whereabouts."

"Yeah, well, such are the hardships of being devastatingly famous. Aren't you going to invite me in? If I stand out here much longer, I might evolve into an aquatic species from all of the water I'm absorbing through my shoes."

"Oh! Right, come in!" Harry stood to the side, and Remus stroked his cheek as he passed him to get inside.

"I missed you, Harry. You were gone too long."

They embraced again, Harry's shirt slowly getting soaked as the water from remus' rain coat made contact with him.

"I missed you too."

000

End chapter 41

There's the much-asked-for lemon. Now shut up and be grateful! (attempts to shake fist but has a coughing fit and has to stop)


	42. Chapter 42

A/N: I apologize for the repeated typos in regards to Harry's arm! His missing arm is not back and it never will be, no matter what my persistent typos might say.

CHAPTER 42

Billy and Remus took to each other well enough, and Billy saved Harry from asking the awkward question of whether or not his godfather could stay a moment or two by inviting him to stay for dinner. Remus accepted and postponed his much-needed heart to heart with Harry in lieu of charming the socks off of his generous host.

Harry tried not to feel too jealous, and flipped through sports magazines whenever they strayed into topics he couldn't contribute to.

Jacob returned from school two hours after Remus' surprise visit, and froze on the porch. Harry, confused, stood close enough to touch him. Jacob's eyes swept the entire porch and then he leaned forward and inhaled Harry's neck deeply. He didn't dare to move as his boyfriend behaved like a territorial Rottweiler and circled him.

Remus watched through the windows with raised eyebrows.

"Who touched you?" Jacob demanded at last, his voice vying with the rain in softness.

"Remus, my godfather from England, touched me. I haven't seen him in a very long time and we hugged, rightly so. He's just inside, in case you felt friendly enough to introduce yourself." Harry explained this with infinite patience, slowly reaching out and laying his palm on Jacob's bare forearm. It was warm enough for him to wear short sleeves now without being suspicious to his other classmates, who remained ignorant to his canine developments.

"What is he?" Jacob asked, his voice reaching normal volume.

Harry sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask, but he's the reason I wasn't frightened of your wolf shape. He's a Werewolf. Every month for several days he is forcibly transformed into a wolf-like creature that will hunt humans if he isn't restrained. It's rather awful, and has caused him a lot of grief over the years."

Jacob looked like Harry had just slapped him with a rubber hose. "…Oh. That explains the hint of violence I can smell."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't know what you can and can not smell, babe. My nose is limited by my humanity. Come on, let's go inside. I want to introduce the reason I fled England!"

Jacob laughed and followed him inside. Remus pretended that he hadn't been spying on them and spent a few seconds inspecting his fingernails. He buffed them against his natty shirt before coolly shaking his hand.

"I hope you understand that, no matter what my physical appearance might suggest, I am more than capable of tearing you apart if you dare to so much as make Harry's eyes water."

Jacob winced when he smelled the truth behind the words. "I'll take good care of him."

"Good. Harry, you are going to explain exactly what has been going on as soon as possible. I propose after dinner."

Harry rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen to make them some tea.

000

Sam stopped by for dinner that night, and physically recoiled from both Jacob and Remus. Remus curled his lip at him, an expression Harry had never seen on his face before, and stared fixedly at him throughout the entire near-silent meal. Harry and Billy both made slightly nervous conversation about the latest sports games and what had been going on around the Reservation lately while Jacob and Sam shoveled food down their throats and Remus primly ate his fish at roughly the pace of an old lady.

"So…you are both from England?" Sam asked over dessert during a break in the conversation. Harry nodded and Remus narrowed his eyes.

"Scotland, actually." His voice could've frozen a desert puddle.

Sam swallowed but recovered enough to ask Harry how he knew Jacob.

"We met at the summer camp, where we fell in love." Jacob answered for him, wrapping his arm around Harry's shoulders and giving them a squeeze. Harry, although torn between laughter and dread, froze. He took a sip of water instead.

"I…" Sam didn't know what to say, apparently. Billy gave him a stern look.

"I hope that you don't have any objections to this, Sam. I respect you as a person, but I will have words with you if you display ignorant behavior under my roof."

"No, of course not!" Sam hurried to defend himself. "Your son is practically an adult; he doesn't need my approval, either."

Jacob actually smiled at him. "Thanks, Sam. I'm really happy that you feel that way. Harry is very important to me, and I'd hate for such an important part of my life to become an obstacle on the Reservation."

The rest of the meal was concluded with considerably less tension, although Harry was in agony within the private confines of his mind, trying to decide how on earth he could word the situation without making him look like a complete madman. Everything had made perfect sense before…why did everything he did suddenly seem so dramatic now that he was going to reveal it to Remus?

Harry and Remus retired to the porch after Sam left, and agreed to do the dishes and give them some time to hash out their life stories in peace.

"So…Jacob seems nice."

Harry nodded, tongue-tied. He was afraid that this would happen, but he couldn't stop it from happening anyway. Remus pulled him into another prolonged hug, and stroked his hair.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, Harry. I've already accepted your decision; I'd just like to know what those decisions were, and what you plan to do about your future. Somehow I don't think that you have any intention of leaving this place."

Harry shook his head. "No, I won't ever leave unless it's with Jacob."

"And how did you come to be so devoted to someone you only saw for several months last year?"

He pulled away and settled into the bench, taking a hard candy out of his pocket. He offered it to Remus, who shook his head, shrugged, and put it in his mouth. Sucking pensively between sentences, he revealed the entire melodramatic story, including vague accounts of his vigilante labors. Remus seemed surprised to know that it was him who was responsible for the Death Eater deaths, since it was currently pinned in the papers on a retired Auror. The man claimed to have had nothing to do with it, but his past records of several vigilante incidents said otherwise. Or at least they said otherwise to the sensation-hungry press.

"I heard one of those dreadful people was found missing a foot!"

"Oh my." Harry replied blandly.

Remus groaned. "Harry, what am I going to do with you? I can't even kidnap you, because your wolf boyfriend would track you down by scent anyway."

Harry giggled. "You were going to kidnap me?"

"If I found evidence that you were being kept against your will or were mentally unstable, yes. I would do anything for your well-being Harry, you know that."

He patted his knee. "Yes, you and your guilty conscience. When are you going to realize that I don't resent you for being what you are, even if it did mean that I had to live with the Dursleys for fourteen years?"

Remus shrugged. "Don't listen to me…Dora says that I'm becoming a melancholic old man."

"Well, let's take your mind off of that. You wanted to know about my future plans, right?"

"Yes. You can't conceivably live like a parasite off of the Black's hospitality forever, you know."

"I'm aware of that. I have considerable funds in Gringott's that I am going to arrange to have wired into a checking account for me, so I can access it when I need it, and have begun considering Muggle college."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "You don't have the paperwork to do that."

"Yes, but Muggle paperwork, unlike magical paperwork, can be forged easily. Well, it can be forged easily if you have a wand. Which I don't, by the way."

Remus waved a hand. "Yeah, you already mentioned its unfortunate fate. I am willing to help you forge what is needed, if it will help you establish yourself on this side of the world. I will miss seeing you as often as I would have if you were living close to the Burrow, but I understand. Jacob's devotion is a force of nature."

"Thanks for understanding." Harry whispered, feeling his throat close with emotion. He thanked god that he had such understanding authority figures. Now all he had to do was figure out what to tell his school friends and how to handle the wolf pack's reactions to Jacob's sexuality.

000

End chapter 42


	43. Chapter 43

CHAPTER 43

All was not well within the Quileute pack. In addition to Bella and Edward's return from their honeymoon, Jacob Black was dating a young man. The pack was trying hard to withhold an opinion until Sam made up his mind on how he felt about this.

Sam wasn't the sort to judge, but he did have views on subjects that he found important. In his opinion, society's inherent structure depended strongly on hard-working heterosexual couples who reproduced a new generation of children who could support them in their old age. Homosexuality threatened the pyramid of organized society, in addition to the ever-growing multitude of people who did not have children.

He was shocked that Jacob was gay, to be honest. He never would've guessed that Billy Black's son would choose that path, especially since he had seen in his pack's minds that Jacob had been smitten with Bella Swan for quite some time. He wondered idly if imprinting was possible outside of being a wolf.

In the end, Jacob wasn't his concern. He hadn't even turned like the rest of the young men in the tribe, so there was obviously something wrong with him.

Reluctantly, he instructed his pack to act as though nothing had changed, even though none of them were particularly close with Jacob anymore and wouldn't have had much to say to him on the matter in the first place.

He dismissed the pack, changed back, and went home to try and get some sleep. He still didn't know what had been so off about that Remus guy either. The way he smelled…it was like a wolf, but so much more.

He shivered and stripped, heading for a hot shower. Maybe things would be clearer when he emerged.

000

Remus left Sunday morning to go back to Tonks, taking with him a series of Muggle photographs of Harry looking happy and well. Hopefully Molly would be appeased. They took extra care to take them in locations that did not give away what kind of place he was in, just in case the photos were stolen and someone tried to track him down.

Thanks to Remus' efforts in England, Harry now had access to his money at Gringott's, and all the forged documents he could handle. Straightaway he took a day trip with Jacob to determine the state of the community college in La Push. Deeming it worthy of his patronage, despite being rather small and quite dingy, he applied as a student using his newly-procured school documents.

Since they were in La Push anyway, they decided to shop for a larger bed. As pleasant as it was, they'd decided that getting crushed every morning couldn't be good for Harry's health, and Jacob's shoulders were starting to tense from the strange sleep positions.

The local department store had a disappointing selection that only operated in extremes: you could choose between extremely ornate affairs with walnut posters and carved headboards, or disgustingly modern cots that wouldn't be out of place in the military.

"Damn." Jacob expressed their mutual feeling perfectly, and flopped down on the nearest kingly bed. Harry waited a moment for the suspicious sales clerk to walk away before he lay down beside him.

"Why won't that guy leave us alone?" He muttered.

"Because we probably look like criminals. Why did you decide to wear such dark, baggy clothes?" Jacob teased, pulling on the hood of Harry's sweatshirt. Harry swatted his hands away.

"I didn't want to look goody-two-shoes at the college."

Jacob snorted. "Oh please. You have scars on your face and you're missing an arm. You look like the last survivor of a gang war! They're probably more afraid of you then you are of them."

"You're probably right." He rolled onto his side. "Even though this bed wouldn't fit in your living room, it's very comfortable."

"And squishy."

"Yeah…" Harry sighed. "Too bad its 5000 dollars."

"Let's get up and go look at tables. I'm starting to fall asleep."

They migrated to the dinette section of the store, and Harry sneered at every paltry and poorly-made piece they had. Some of the tables were uneven, and others simply didn't appeal to either of them.

"Well, this was a complete fucking waste of time."

"It doesn't have to be." Harry replied, sinking to his knees with a devilish look. "I say we find out what this 8-foot one looks like underneath."

Confused but enticed, Jacob followed him underneath. They saw the nosy clerk walk past in the distance, scanning the shelves for them. Harry chuckled once he was out of sight and rolled on top of Jacob. Placing his palm against his beating heart, he leant down and kissed him.

Neither of them could tell you anything at all about what the underside of the table had looked like if asked.

000

Hermione handed the pictures to Ron, who shuffled through them for the third guy.

"I still can't believe that he lost an arm, and he didn't tell us!" He exclaimed, reluctantly handing the photos over to his greedy sister. He took a sulky sip of his lemonade and wiped his mouth on his sleeve afterwards, continuing, "I mean, we're his best friends! Why did you get to visit him and we didn't?"

Remus shrugged, smiling down at Tonks as she silently mimicked Ron's tomato-red face. The redhead apparently flushed whenever he felt strong emotion, not just when he was embarrassed.

"I don't know what to tell you, Ron. Harry was very adamant that I not tell any of you where he is, and I respect his wishes. He isn't ready to face you yet. He went through a lot to finish the war."

"I know, but even a postcard with a picture of him would've been nice weeks ago!"

Remus sighed and ate biscuit.

"If it's any comfort, he did confide in me that he might permit you two to meet him at a neutral location if he isn't too busy."

Hermione looked up from the pictures, which had made their way back into her lap. "Why a neutral location?"

He shrugged again. "How should I know? The ways of Harry are strange and mysterious."

Ginny privately swooned. Sure, she hadn't planned on marrying a scarred one-armed Mad-Eye lookalike, but Harry was still Harry and he was even more impressive now that he'd defeated Voldemort forever.

She couldn't wait to see him again. Hopefully he would be impressed with the way she'd been developing lately, and finally see her as more than his best friend's little sister. She adjusted her bra self-consciously.

000

Rumpled and happy, Harry and Jacob returned to the reservation and sat down at the kitchen table with a pad of paper to sort out their living situation.

"I could always set up a bed on the couch-"

"Absolutely not." Jacob shot his idea down without even considering it. "You're sleeping with me, babes, whether you want to or not."

"I'm not complaining. Sleeping with you is like sleeping with a very nice electrical blanket, but a lot sexier."

Jacob flushed and became very interested in his pencil. Harry traced the outline of his foot under the table with his own, all while innocently pulling Jacob's crude sketch of their property over to his side of the table. He snaked his foot up the inside of his trouser leg, massaging his calf in strong strokes.

"Since your foundation is solid, we can actually expand the house itself instead of moving out. I will cover however much of the cost you want."

Jacob nodded, squirming a little as Harry retracted his foot from within his trouser to scale the outer side. "Thanks, Harry. We couldn't afford it on our own."

Harry smiled at him and lovingly stroked his cheek even as his toes ventured up his inner thigh. "I wouldn't dream of not contributing. These expansions are entirely because of my presence, after all. You and your dad managed just fine before I crashed your party."

"I like the way things are now." Jacob whispered, catching his hand and pressing it to his hot neck. "I like having you here every day, seeing you in the morning when I wake up and at night when I got to sleep. I don't ever want to live without that, Harry."

He bit his lip, feeling his eyes water a little. He'd wanted to hear things like that ever since he was old enough to notice the love that Dudley had that he did not, and having Jacob be the one to say them made his heart soar.

"Jake…"

"I know. I love you too."

Harry decided to stop teasing him under the table and pressed his foot full-length against his crotch. Jacob groaned and slumped forward until his forehead rested against the cool tabletop. Harry continued to destroy his concentration beneath the table as he made plans for adding onto the house.

000

"I have to say that I'm impressed." Billy set the plans aside, folding his hands across his paunch. "You boys sure like to move things right along. What I want to know is where are we going to live while they add onto the house?"

"There's a decent hotel in La Push, about ten minutes away. I'll pay." Harry provided.

"Oh, you don't need to-"

"I do if I want Jacob all to myself in a separate room."

Jacob turned bright red and Billy guffawed.

"You caught me- I walked right into that one!" he wheezed out in between chuckles. "In light of that fact, I see your point. I'll stop acting like a proud old lady about you picking up my tab."

"This favor comes with complimentary beer." Harry tacked on just before heading outside with Jacob to help out in the shop.

"You are the best son's boyfriend a man could ask for!" Billy shouted after him, cackling to himself.

000

End chapter 43

I cannot believe the length of the chapters I have been posting lately. I am deeply ashamed…and deeply ill.


	44. Chapter 44

CHAPTER 44

Building on the house would begin in less than one week, so they'd spent the last couple of days packing everything into boxes and disassembling the furniture late into the night. They were storing everything in an old shed behind the auto shop that the Blacks used to store spare parts in before the dawn of the internet made procuring everything overnight that much easier.

Despite the late nights the past couple of days, Harry was wide awake early in the morning and decided to take a shower. It was something of a pain scheduling when the shower would be available, and taking one now could prevent a battle of wills later with Jake or Billy.

He sang softly in the shower, using Jacob's shampoo. He would get around to buying separate toiletries eventually, but for now he enjoyed using Jacob's things because they made them smell alike. It was sentimental of him, but there you had it.

Stepping out, he noted that it was getting close to seven in the morning, when Jacob's alarm was set to go off. He reached for his towel, but changed his mind at the last minute as a prank came to mind. Toweling his hair and face lightly, he wrapped the towel loosely around his hips. He peeked out of the bathroom to make sure that Billy wasn't awake yet, and then tiptoed back into their room.

As expected, Jacob was still asleep, lying on his stomach with his head to the side, mouth parted slightly with his soft breaths. He dropped the towel and charged the bed, leaping on top of him and soaking him through the thin sheet.

Jacob thrashed, starting awake with a yell.

Harry laid on him until he woke up fully, and started glaring at him. He shimmied upwards and kissed his nose.

"Good morning, Jake."

Jake scowled. "Was that completely necessary?"

"No, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy it." He sighed and laid his cheek against Jacob's neck, running the tip of his finger in little patterns across his bare chest. "Do you not like me lying on top of you, completely soaked?"

Jacob slowly started to grin, and he reached into the side drawer to pull out something. Harry squinted, trying to see what it was without his glasses, but couldn't determine much other than the disappointing fact that it wasn't their lubricant bottle.

"Give me your leg, Harry. I have a present for you that I forgot about."

Harry raised his eyebrows, curious and intrigued, and slung his leg across his hips. Jacob slipped something around his ankle, working it up his leg until it was snugly encircling Harry's mid-thigh.

Squinting, Harry was able to deduce that it was a woman's garter, in a fetching shade of navy. He looked up at his boyfriend. "Not that I'm complaining, since I am a sucker for gifts, but what possessed you to buy me a garter?"

Jacob smoothed his hand through his wet hair, tugging gently on it until Harry bent his neck back far enough for him to kiss his chin. "I bought it when Bella was getting her dress done. I was thinking of you. I was thinking about how I would want you to be wearing this during our life partner ceremony…"

Harry snorted. "If you're proposing, this is a very interesting way of doing so."

Jacob retaliated to this insult by snapping his garter. Harry shrieked and slapped at him, making Jacob laugh and call him a girly man.

"But seriously…"

Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, "I thought we'd already made up our minds that we were getting as close to married as we can." He ran his fingers lazily down Jacob's side, massaging his ribs.

Jacob swallowed as Harry's hand wandered farther downwards, under the sheet and down the smooth planes of his hips. "Well, yeah, but I never asked you properly."

"You didn't ask me properly this time either." Harry pointed out. He reached down and fiddled with his new garter. "Either way, my answer hasn't changed. You'd need a crowbar to peel me from your side, Jake. I'm not going anywhere."

"You'll stay here even if you have all of your friends in England?"

Harry shrugged. "So? They can come here for the ceremony and visit as soon as the building is done, when I tell them where I am. I don't want us cramping up your house."

"Aw, you need to stop worrying about the space issue. It wasn't bad at all when your godfather was here."

"Yes, but he is probably the only one of my friends who would be comfortable visiting me on their own. The rest tend to travel in pack formation. If Hermione or Ron comes, the other must tag along. And if Ron comes, so does his sister Ginny. If Ginny comes Luna will probably tag along because those two are close, and if Luna comes then so does Neville simply because he would feel awkward staying home when everyone else came here to visit. And if he still has feelings for her, Dean will follow Ginny. If Dean comes, so will his best mate Seamus. And if Seamus comes, then so will Parvati because, last I checked, she was infatuated with him. And if she comes, so will her twin sister and her friends…" he laughed at the horrified look on Jacob's face, "Do you see my point now?"

"Holy shit…you have some very complicated social connections."

Harry groaned into his shoulder. "Tell me about it. So do you support my decision to wait until after we've installed the pair of guest bedrooms before I start inviting my friends?"

"Absolutely. At this rate, the Brits could invade the country and nobody would be the wiser."

Harry snorted. "And do what? No offense, but this country is too complicated for my tastes. We're no more equipped to solve your problems than your government is equipped to handle others."

Jacob gasped dramatically. "Was that anti-government sentiment I heard from you just now?"

He laughed. "Yes, I am a traitor to the patriotic mission!"

Jacob squeezed him. "Well, until they make our sort of marriage legal, so am I. As things stand now, we will have to be content with what is available."

000

The phone rang, startling Jacob out of his nap. They'd informed all of their acquaintances and friends to call their cell phones in preparation for the building project, during which their house phone would be out of commission. Cursing, he got carefully out of bed, trying not to wake Harry, and answered it in the front hall.

"Hello? This is the Black Residence."

"Jacob!"

It was Bella, and she sounded as annoying as ever. He ran his hand over his eyes. "Hey, Bella." He greeted her without enthusiasm, "You're back now, eh?"

"Oh, we've been back for a week. I just didn't get around to calling you. Edward has kept me pretty busy. He's teaching me how to play the piano."

_Among other things… _Jacob's mind helpfully supplied. He groaned softly.

"Are you okay, Jake?"

He snapped to attention. "Oh, uh, yeah, everything is fine here. Why did you call me, again?"

"Well…no real reason. I just wanted to talk to you. How are things with your friend Harry?"

He saw the chance to verbally slap her and replied, "We were just discussing our wedding plans, actually. We aren't sure whether or not we want to invite anybody, though, so don't go out and buy a new dress for the occasion."

There was silence from the other end of the phone. He grinned, proud for taking her down a peg so easily. A little bit of getting walked over was okay, but she'd done more than he could accept and he didn't let things like that slide.

"Oh…that's…nice."

"I know!" he chirped cheerfully, seeing Harry come into the hall, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. He silently blew him a kiss and Harry blew one back, going into the kitchen. He heard him open the fridge, probably planning what to make for dinner. The thought made him feel warm all over.

"Well, uh, Edward is calling me, so I have to go now. we might come over after dinner some night, though, if you invite us onto your lands."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Okay! Bye!"

He hung up without saying goodbye and sauntered into the kitchen. Harry was pulling some ready-made fajitas out of the freezer, a look of concentration on his face as he maneuvered the slippery packages with one hand. Jacob watched, impressed all over again at how dexterous Harry could be with just one hand. He had nothing against the disabled, obviously, but Harry continued to surprise him with how well he managed.

"Hey."

Harry set down the food beside the tortillas and smiled. "I'm just setting out the food to thaw for tonight. I'm guessing that was a certain bitchy newly-wed on the phone?"

Jacob's mouth fell open. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess." He pulled out a bowl and filled it with lukewarm water for the frozen food. He set it in the sink and moved away from it for a moment to rifle through the cabinets. "You don't have to hide it when you talk to her, by the way. Thanks to your imprint, I can rest assured that you won't ever cheat on me. Besides, she's probably too wrapped up in her constipated husband to pay us any attention."

Jacob started to reply, but choked when he saw the bowl float by itself onto the counter and the fajita packages dance inside, as though ghostly hands decided to perform Harry's tasks for him. A strangled noise came out of his throat, but no words would form. He tried to deny what he'd just seen, but the fact that Harry was digging through the cabinets looking for the saucepan made the event even more upsetting. Harry couldn't make an optical illusion when he was on the other side of the room cursing up a storm over where the skillet had run off to.

At last his vocal cords started working again.

"Um, Harry?"

Harry turned to look at him. "Yes, babe?"

"Did you see that?" he knew that there was no way that Harry could've seen it with his back turned, but his mouth asked anyway. It was still on revolt, apparently.

"Did I see what? Did another owl come for a visit?"

"N-no. The….the…" He pointed dumbly to the bowl

Harry looked at it, and started when he realized that it had done what he was just thinking about while he searched for the renegade skillet. "No. is you doing chores for me really so shocking?"

His joke fell flat, but he wasn't willing to reveal the truth just yet. It was only a matter of time before his magic got frustrated without an outlet and starting acting out his subconscious, with or without his approval.

"I didn't do that for you."

He opened his mouth to brush it off, but his Gryffindor bravery reared its head and he decided that it was time to fill in the other significant side to his upbringing other than Tom's head-hunt for him. "Jacob…I have to tell you something about myself."

Jacob slowly moved his eyes from the fajitas to Harry.

"I have ESP. I swear that I was going to tell you, but I just didn't know how. I mean," he laughed nervously, "how do you even bring something like this up? Besides, it comes and goes. I thought that it was gone forever, to tell the truth. It used to only happen when I had a really difficult problem, or when I was fighting in a life or death situation."

Jacob was stunned. Harry had ESP. ESP! he was imprinted on a…on a psychic or something! He tried vainly to remember what ESP stood for, gave up, and asked.

"ESP stands for Extra Sensory Perception. I can't see the future or any of that shit, but I have met several people that could, more or less. Um…there's more. Most of my friends have it. I attended a special school for 'gifted' students. That was the real reason we didn't have any phones, and that you couldn't visit me. Recently, we had a war of sorts. Tom Riddle wasn't just out to get me; he wanted to kill everyone who didn't have the extra skills. He was a little bit like Hitler, come to think of it."

He moved slowly to a chair, sinking into it. He couldn't believe this. How much had Harry endured, growing up different from everyone else and knowing that he could never be normal? At least he had grown up thinking that he was just a normal kid like any other kid on the Reservation.

"When did you first find out?" He whispered.

"When I was eleven; I had done some weird things before then, including turning a mean teacher's hair blue and talking to a snake, but I thought that it was all in my head."

"Oh."

Harry sidled close to him cautiously, hesitated, and then ran his fingers through his loose hair. Jacob leaned back so that he could rest his head against Harry's warm body, and sighed as his hair was stroked.

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."

He caught his hand and kissed it. "No, don't be sorry. If it was me, I probably never would've told at all. I would be too scared."

Harry sighed and bent down to kiss his forehead. "I'll try to be brave for you in the future."

000

End chapter 44

And the cat is out of the bag!


	45. Chapter 45

A/N: I accidentally mentioned both Neville Longbottom and Dean Thomas last chapter. Both of those characters are still deceased. It was a typo and I apologize for the confusion.

CHAPTER 45

The building on the house took a little less than six months, and during that time Harry's progress at University was unbelievable. He was offered the position of student body President several times, but refused each time on the grounds that he wanted to spend more time studying and planning for his wedding.

They'd agreed to have the ceremony in December, on Boxing Day, so that Jacob's sisters would be able to visit without interrupting their school or work and Harry could invite everyone who would absolutely _have _to be there. He wasn't looking forward to the reactions he was going to get when they realized the full implications of him marrying a Muggle, but he'd already warned all of them to keep their mouths shut about magic while they were there. Considering that it was illegal to tell Muggles about magic in the first place except in extreme or family circumstances, they ought to keep quiet anyway.

Speaking of his friends, Ginny had been the only one to not reply to his save-the-date card, even though Ron assured him over the phone that she would be there. He dearly hoped that he wasn't at the top of her shit list. That was not a position any sane person wanted to be in; Ginny was a nice girl most of the time, but she was still Molly's daughter.

He set aside his coffee and opened up his new laptop, reviewing an essay he had due the next day. Jacob was supposed to be meeting him here at the college café soon, and he didn't have anything better to do while he waited. Typing with one hand took a long time.

Someone covered his eyes.

"Guess who." Jacob whispered huskily, slithering into the seat beside him. Harry wrenched his hands away with a laugh, smiling at him.

"Hey, babe."

Jacob pecked him on the cheek and stole some of his coffee. "Hey. Guess what I was just doing?"

"What?"

"Getting measured for my tux, for the wedding. I did it with dad, and we had this whole talk about how he feels about us tying the knot so young."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Oh? He doesn't mind, does he? I mean, neither of us is eighteen yet and we won't be by the time the ceremony comes along, but I didn't know he minded us being such children."

Jacob shook his head. "No, it wasn't about that, although he did mention it. I know that we're young, but the imprint isn't something that's going to go away, and we might as well do it now before you get too caught up in school and I graduate high school and start doing course work as well. What Billy talked to me about is what we're going to do once we finish school. He…well, he suggested that we get rid of the shop."

"What?" Harry gasped, "But you love that shop! It's your family business."

He shrugged, taking another sip of Harry's coffee. "I do have really good memories of it, yeah, and I still enjoy working with cars, but dad is getting older and I don't want to spend the rest of my life patching up people's cars. I'll do it maybe as a hobby, but not for full-time work."

"Oh…what did you want to do?"

He held his hands up. "I have no idea. Before I met you, I always kind of assumed that I wouldn't go to college once I finished high school. I thought a lot about marrying Bella and making a nice little life with her, but then you came along and threw my world off balance."

Harry laughed and punched his arm. "Hey, I though you liked being unbalanced."

He smiled softly and touched Harry's face gently. "I do, babe, I do. I just need to get some direction, and I figured that I might as well talk to you about it."

"Well, what do you like to do besides tinker?"

Jacob looked skywards, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands behind his head. "Let's see…I like to spend time with you, preferably alone and in bed…"

Harry kicked his chair, nearly over-balancing him. Jacob grabbed the edge of the table and pouted at him. "Hey! I was being honest! Being with you is still my favorite thing to do."

"You could be my yes man."

He chewed his lip. "I don't know about that…would I have to sing back-up if we ever did karaoke?"

Harry guffawed. "Hell no. Back to the point, did you want to do something in the office or outdoors work? The second option doesn't pay nearly as well and has an obvious expiration date, because nobody stays young and strong forever, but I don't care about the pay. I just want you to do something that makes you happy."

"I just don't know, Harry. I don't want to push paper my whole life and I also don't want to dig ditches."

Harry frowned, thinking. He signaled the staff, and she nodded, setting to work preparing another coffee for him. "What about…engineering?"

"Doesn't that take a lot of school?"

"Yeah, but who cares? It will give you something to do at the very least and we can afford it. Think about it…you'd still get to tinker, and I know that you like math." He laid his hand on his, giving it a squeeze. "Give it a chance."

"Okay. I like it."

Harry snorted. "Gosh, that was decisive of you."

He shrugged. "What can I say? With you standing behind me, I am well on my well to becoming an intellectual giant. Long gone are my days of slacking by in classes without putting any effort into my education. I guess knowing that I'm going to use it has given me a slightly different perspective."

"I think it just means that you're getting older. It's hard to be all angst-ridden when you're getting married and can't blame it on being fourteen and hormonal anymore."

Jacob just laughed and kissed his cheek.

000

It was two weeks until the ceremony, and Jacob's sisters were already calling every day to harass Harry about what the color scheme was so that they could coordinate their outfits. They nearly pitched a collective bitch fit when Harry tried to explain that there _wasn't _a color scheme. They were both wearing tuxes with their nicest ties (Harry would have the addition of a navy garter under his trousers) and the ceremony was being held in a mid-size chapel in La Push. No color scheme was necessary in their eyes.

His sisters did not agree, and Rachel showed up with plastic flower arrangements last Saturday that she delivered to the chapel staff to install the day before the ceremony. Neither of the grooms was very happy about it, but the look she'd given them was enough to make Harry shudder and the matter was dropped.

A taxi pulled up in the long driveway while they were in the middle of a game of checkers, and Jacob squinted out the rain-streaked window to try and see who was inside.

"Um, I think it's a girl. She's got brown hair…a lot of brown hair."

"That would be Hermione."

"Oh." Jacob nodded. "Should I go and get her something to drink?"

"If you want; she isn't the formal sort of person to care about things like that. She'll probably need some water in between grilling you for details, though."

Jacob groaned. "Oh, so she's _that _female friend. Okay, I'll get the water. Why don't you stand out on the porch and wait for her?"

Hermione stood frozen by the taxi for a moment, and then burst into a run. Sprinting up the path, splashing muddy water onto herself as she went, she threw herself at him. She held him so tight his ribs creaked, burying her face in his shoulder. Carefully, she touched the stump where his arm used to be, stroking the area through his shirt.

Pulling back, she took in his facial scars. "Oh, Harry…"

He smiled wanly. "You flew all the way over here just to gawp at my war decorations?"

"Shut up! I missed you…why didn't you tell us where you were earlier?"

He pointed at the house behind them. "This here used to be a third of the size it is now, and I know that none of you can come alone other than Remus, so I waited until we could fit you all inside. Also, I just wasn't ready. Please forgive me?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. I understand, but I'm not happy about it. So much has happened: you lost a limb, you're gay, and now you're getting married!"

"And he's going to college." Jacob broke in, getting tired of being a piece of scenery. He wrapped an arm around Harry and pulled him close, kissing the top of his head. "And he's doing smashingly in it."

Harry laughed and shoved weakly at him. "Don't be a prick, Jake! Hermione here is quite the brainiac. I'm sure she can compete with me on any intellectual level I strive to reach."

"Aw, how sweet of you to say!" Hermione cooed, patting his cheek. "I know I mentioned something about Ron being late; he's coming tomorrow with his whole family, so I'd brace myself if I were you."

Harry frowned. "Where are Luna and Remus and Tonks?"

"Luna fell asleep in the cab, and Remus and Tonks are checking into their hotel. They said they'd be here for dinner, if that's alright."

Jacob nodded vehemently. "I like Remus. He's welcome to come for dinner anytime."

Hermione smiled at him. "I'm so glad that you think that way! I've heard so many horror stories about couples trying to integrate their friends and having fist fights break out."

"I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons there hasn't been a fight between Jake and Remus yet is because neither of them are sure who would win that show-down."

Hermione looked appraisingly at Jacob, and nodded agreement. "Yes, I see what you mean. Can I come inside? The cabbie is getting the luggage out, and I think Luna will wake up any second-"

"Harry!" Luna screeched, bursting out of the cab. Contrary to her energetic greeting, she stopped to heft her trunk and a smaller bag before heading up the driveway to greet them. The cab driver was nicely bringing Hermione's things up behind her, a faintly love-struck look on his face as Luna chattered to him.

Harry had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. Despite the uncomfortable feeling she gave most wizards, Luna was very attractive to Muggles for some unknown reason. He supposed it had something to do with the absolute honesty that surrounded her girlish innocence.

"Luna!"

She waved the smaller bag at him, crowing something that he couldn't catch through the rain. She reached the porch and dumped her things, throwing her arms around Jacob instead of Harry.

"Hello, stranger! I've hugged Harry lots of times, but you are new, so you get his hug."

Jacob blinked slowly, processing that concept. He shrugged. "Okay."

Now that the cab driver was paid off and the girls were collected, Harry showed them inside and upstairs to the new level. There was a full bathroom and two guest rooms now, in addition to the expanded rooms below. They hadn't changed the original floor plan of the house, choosing instead to stretch it out.

"It's so good to see you again!" Hermione said empathetically, resting her trunk on one side of the room while Jacob saw to Luna's on the other side.

Harry hugged her. "I really missed you."

000

End chapter 45

Wedding bells!


	46. Chapter 46

CHAPTER 46

The Weasleys arrived just as they were washing up the lunch plates. Jacob stared wide-eyed at the large troop of red-heads charging up his driveway while weighted down by their luggage and what he was pretty sure was a fold-up tent of some kind. Mr. Weasley waved expansively at them, beaming ear to ear.

Harry somehow knew that he would be ecstatic to be staying close to a Muggle home with all of the modern comforts and appliances that he was so fascinated by. He smiled back and waved.

"Why don't you go out to them? I'll finish up here and be out in a moment." Jacob suggested this tactfully, pecking Harry on the cheek. Harry thought over what their reactions would be if he immediately shoved the fact that he was marrying a massive Muggle teenager who none of them had ever heard of in their faces. He nodded.

"Good idea."

Jacob just shook his head, smiling. "It's cool. I know I'm an unexpected development."

Harry paused on his way out the door, turned back and touched his face with his hand. "Don't think like that. You're unexpected, yes, but I love you and you know that I will always pick you if I have to choose between you and them."

He nodded, biting his lip. "I…I know. I just forget sometimes."

Harry kissed him. "Don't forget." He left, heading outside to embrace Mrs. Weasley. Over her shoulder he caught sight of Ginny, who was wearing a dress that could only be described as indecent and high leather boots. She smiled when she saw him looking and winked.

His stomach squirmed. He would love to pretend that it was just a friendly gesture on her part, but he knew that look too well. It was very much like the one Jacob would give him just before suggesting that they have a shower together or take a very long, very private, nap.

Ron near tackled him before he could think too hard about it, and he laughed when Ron squeaked upon noticing how different it felt to hug him when he only had one arm instead of two.

"Bloody hell…" Ron stared at his arm. Harry was glad that he wasn't self-conscious about his stump, because otherwise his reaction wouldn't have been very pleasant to being gawped at like a freak show.

He rubbed it casually. "Yeah, it was tough for the first couple of months without it, but I know my limits now. I gave up on trying knitting with one needle in my mouth."

Ron guffawed and slapped him on the back. "Good one! Hey, don't let me hog you. Everyone else needs a chance to see how you've been during the _entire year _that it's been since we last saw each other."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on! I needed some space."

"We didn't mind too much." George reassured him, looking thin and pale without Fred beside him. Harry's heart swelled with compassion for him, and he pulled him into a far fiercer hug than he'd given Ron. George pressed his nose to Harry's neck and rocked with him gently for several moments.

They were dimly aware of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley taking stock of the very damp surroundings.

"Are you having a rainy spell?" Mr. Weasley asked conversationally, gesturing to the puddles and mud all around them.

Harry snorted, pulling carefully away from George. "It's more like we're having a dry spell. It rains so much here I'm surprised that there's any water left for the rest of the world. This is an Olympic Peninsula or something like that."

They nodded politely, obviously having no idea what that was either. Ginny started to move closer, obviously intending to get her chance at hugging him now. He froze up a little inside, and knew absolutely that letting her anywhere near him would be a bad idea for both of them. It wasn't that he was tempted: he just didn't want to play with fire.

He coughed, and tried to think of a way to distract everyone. "Oh! Why don't I show you around to where you can pitch your tent? We've found a nice area in the back with a large overhang from the trees and the house, so you won't have to walk very far in the rain between the house and your tent."

"Cheers!"

He led them around the back, narrowly missing Ginny. Charlie came swooping around George and slung an arm around him.

"How've you been, Harry? I haven't seen you in ages!"

He laughed and smiled up at him. They barely interacted, but he'd always liked Charlie. There was just something solid and inherently _decent _about him, even if he did make his living taming dragons and obviously had a hidden wild side.

"I've been brilliant. For the first time I'm doing really well in school, I have a home that doesn't came as a packaged deal with the relatives from hell, and I have the best fiancé a man could ask for!"

Charlie beamed, glowing with empathetic joy. "You're not even eighteen yet, but you've got it made!"

They snorted together and Harry showed them where to pitch their tent. They'd brought several, to keep up the impression that they weren't actually a lot bigger on the inside than they were on the outside. It wouldn't do for Billy to start getting funny ideas. For the sake of not giving him a heart attack, Jacob had agreed with him that they wouldn't reveal Harry's more exotic side.

Once everyone was settled and the tents were pitched, they trooped inside. Jacob, thoughtful boy that he was, had made some tea and brought out some sandwiches.

He waved awkwardly at the group of staring Brits, feeling uncomfortably like it was the first day of school.

Mrs. Weasley broke the ice by rushing over to him and crushing him to her bosom. How she managed this when he was a good two feet taller than her was a mystery that no one wanted to solve.

"Oh, you're so handsome!"

Jacob turned very red but tried to look friendly. His voice cracked as he asked if she wanted anything to eat or drink.

"Some tea would be absolutely lovely, dear."

He poured her a cup, smiling nervously at the rest of the Weasleys, all of whom were still clustered near the door and eyeing him with amazement. They were tall, but they were also rake thin with the notable exception of Charlie. Jake's massive dimensions were a bit of a surprise if they were expecting a girly man.

Harry gestured for Jake to come to his side, and he did so, standing meekly beside him. "Guys, this is my fiancé Jacob Black. Jake, this is Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and their children Charlie, George, Ron, and Ginny. Bill and his wife Fleur are…?"

"They're coming tonight. There weren't enough seats on the plane for all of us to go together." Mr. Weasley piped up helpfully. "And, as you know, Percy can't come until the day before because of work. That boy works way too hard."

Harry smiled indulgently, subtly guiding everyone to the living room as soon as they had their refreshments. "I understand that there is a lot of work to be done. The war left quite a lot in shambles."

Mr. Weasley nodded. "Yes, you are right. But, if you don't mind the change in subject, could you explain to me how that floor lamp works?"

The explanation and several following ones on everything from their cellular phones, which were very impressive to Mr. Weasley, to the ceiling fan, took several hours. The other Weasleys made quiet conversation between them or napped on the sofas.

Ginny didn't take her eyes off of Harry throughout all of his joint explanations with Jacob, who knew rather more about electronics than Harry did.

They heard the door open in the back, and the rustling sounds of Hermione and Luna seeing to the groceries they'd gone out for with Billy.

Luna floated to the doorway and smiled dreamily at the company. "Hello, Weasleys!"

They greeted her, and Hermione bolted out the kitchen to sit half on top of Ron as soon as she realized that they'd arrived. Harry watched this new development with raised eyebrows, pleased that they'd finally figured their complex feelings out.

000

It took two days for Ginny to corner him in the upstairs bathroom just as he was coming out from a shower. It was very early in the morning, and he was uncomfortably aware that she'd probably donned the skimpy nightgown she was wearing entirely for his benefit.

He smiled weakly and tried to get around her, but she braced her hands on either side of the walls and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Harry, you've been avoiding me the past couple of days, and it's hurting my feelings."

"I'm sorry, it's just that I've been busy. Wedding or no wedding, I still have classes and there is a lot of last-minute planning-"

"Don't play cute with me." She snarled, taking a step forward. He took another back, trying to keep the space between them. His calf bumped against the toilet bowel. "I'm not blind…you're attracted to me, but you're too scared to act on it because of _him."_

_What the fuck? _His eyebrows shot upwards in amazement. Was she serious? "Um, Ginny…"

She shut the door blindly with one hand, not taking her eyes off of him. The door bumped against the linen hamper and didn't close fully. "Aren't we too old to be playing silly buggers like a couple of kids? I want you, you want me. why does this have to be so complicated? You can trust me; I won't tell anybody about what we do. Just take what you want…what I'm offering."

She closed the remaining distance between them, and his back collided with damp tiles. Her hands were on her chest, and then she was kissing him without so much as a 'by your leave'.

He was frozen, shocked. Was this his best friend's little sister, or some kind of strange monster? He didn't remember seeing this side to Ginny when they were at school. When she reached for his towel, he snapped back to his senses and pushed her off of him.

Behind her, the door slammed open to reveal a furious Jacob wearing a bed sheet like a toga. Fire seemed to shoot out from his eyeballs, and Ginny quailed for a moment before regaining her confidence. She casually grabbed Harry and tried to pull him back against her.

"What do _you _want?" She sneered.

When he spoke, it was with a voice that could strike fear into the hearts of dead men. "I want you to take your filthy hands off of my baby before I do something regrettable like tear you limb from limb, no matter the consequences."

Ginny swallowed and for a moment Harry was sure that she wouldn't back down, but then she squared her shoulders, sneered at Jacob, and swept past him and back down the stairs.

Harry sagged against the wall, looking at Jacob with what he hoped was convincing contrition.

Jake moved smoothly forward and pulled him to his chest, not saying a word but simply holding him tight enough to be just slightly uncomfortable. Harry, nose crushed against his pectoral, smiled with relief. He was terrified for just one endless moment that Jacob's trust in him had been irrevocably shaken, that the imprint was somehow reversible, that he was going to call off the wedding…

"You're shaking." Jacob whispered into his hair, running his palm soothingly down his bare back. "Come back to bed. It's too early."

000

The bride's chamber was very…virginal. It was decorated almost all in white, with shell pink carpet and a small sofa of the same color. Jacob took all of this in with a nonplussed look.

"Why do I have the girly room again?"

Rachel slapped his arm. "Because of us, you moron! Harry doesn't have any sisters that will want to see that he gets dressed properly, so he gets the groom's chamber."

He rolled his eyes and flopped into the nearest chair, running a hand over his face. "Well, I'm not undressing in front of you."

Rebecca put her hands on her hips and stared down at him with a face like a thundercloud. "Excuse me?"

He squirmed in the chair. "I'm not a little kid anymore- it's weird to have you guys dressing me again!"

"Why? Because we're girls?" Rebecca snapped.

"No! That has nothing to do with it!"

"Good." Rachel piped in, opening the protective plastic bag around his tuxedo and running an admiring hand down the stylish lapel. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he hadn't moved. "Well go on, take your shirt off!"

Even after all these years, her big sister voice still worked and he found himself obediently undressing even as he grumbled under his breath. Hopefully Harry was having a better time of it.

Two doors down. Harry tried vainly to escape Remus, who was convinced that there was only one proper way to tie a tie.

000

Frazzled and butterfly-ridden, Harry walked as calmly as he could down the aisle. His garter itched a little, but just knowing that it was there made him smile a little bit brighter than he already was. The photographer snapped a couple photos obligingly, and he grinned at the man. Ron, his best man, squeezed his hand as he came up to stand beside him. Hermione, standing beside him, glowed. Opposite them stood Rachel and Rebecca, both with disarming looks of innocence on their faces that Harry knew very well to be false. He hadn't known them very long, but they were both a lot sneakier than Jacob could ever imagine being. He hoped that they hadn't done something naughty, like steal their honeymoon condoms.

Because Harry didn't have a biological father and Jacob did, Jacob was to be given to him like a bride would. He planned on teasing Jacob about this for years to come.

The wedding march started up, and he scowled momentarily. That wasn't something that they'd wanted in their ceremony, since neither of them were brides, but Jacob's sisters had insisted that the familiar song would be the best way to remind the guests to stand.

Jacob rounded the corner, one hand resting on the backrest of Billy's wheelchair. Billy looked fit to burst with pride, but Harry wasn't looking at him. The stained glass windows were sending weak patterns of rose and deep blue light across Jacob's face.

The sight took Harry's breath away, and he felt the nervousness drain away through his feet. He wasn't marrying some stranger, he was marrying Jacob.

Billy handed over Jacob at the appropriate moment, and Harry felt that his hand was clammy with sweat. He wasn't the only nervous one. They stood before the Episcopalian priest, who was a friendly woman named Janine, and didn't pay a mite of attention to anything she said.

Jacob nearly messed up his vows from inattention, and Harry squeezed his hands reassuringly when he blushed from embarrassment. There was no contract to sign, so they ended the ceremony with a kiss.

Harry didn't hesitate a moment in standing on his toes and bringing Jacob down to his level for a very thorough snog, audience be damned.

George cheered, and Charlie Weasley laughed while everyone else clapped.

They walked down the aisle hand in hand, beaming enough sunlight and joy to make you sick. Just before they could exit the doors, Harry caught sight of Bella and her husband Edward sitting in the last row. He raised his eyebrows, but remembered that Charlie Swan was there as a close friend of the family. Charlie had been sitting in the front row with Billy and Jacob's last remaining grandparent, so why…?

Edward must've made her sit back there. They were probably sitting at the back so that Edward Cullen, Mr. Constipated, could be as far as possible from Sam and the rest of the Quileute's who sat much closer to the front. There was something going on between the wolf pack and the Cullens, but he didn't know what.

He shook any thoughts of his surly guests from his mind, snatching another kiss from Jacob while they waited for the receiving line to form.

000

After tossing a bouquet together (much against their wills), feeding each other cake, and generally drinking more champagne than they should in order to look interested in what their guests had to say when all they wanted to do was make a runner for the honeymoon suite, Jacob saw Billy go off and Sam follow him several moments later.

Touching Harry's arm, he mouthed that he was going to the bathroom and followed them. Billy went into a dressing room, probably to adjust his tie, and Sam followed him in and closed the door behind them.

"Why are they here?" Sam snarled, leaning down so that he could be nose-to-nose with Billy. Unseen, Jacob entered the room and took up his post by the door, watching the antics of the other alpha with amusement and a smidgeon of derision.

Billy, to his credit, didn't look intimidated in the least. "They are here because Bella Cullen's father has been my close friend for many years. If my friendship with him means that her husband must accompany her to any events she attends with her father, then I am willing to allow it for the time being."

"You did not consult the elders!"

Billy shrugged nonchalantly. "This isn't Quileute land."

Sam opened his mouth to respond, but shut it when he realized that Billy was right. The chapel stood on land far enough from their reservation to make his argument invalid. Billy smirked at him.

"Did you have anything else to say?"

"The answer had better be 'no'." Jacob said softly from the door. Sam and his father turned to look at him.

"Ah," Sam coughed, "Congratulations on your marriage."

Jacob smiled thinly. "You're so full of shit. Admit it; you have a problem with me and Harry."

Sam straightened. "Yes, I do, but I am man enough to let my personal opinion rest on your wedding day. Now is not the time for this conversation."

"And what gives you the authority to decide that?"

"I am the alpha. You might not be a wolf, but-"

Jacob shook his head. "That's where you're wrong."

He looked confused. "What do you mean? Have you transformed? Why didn't you come to me for guidance?"

"Because I transformed long before I ever met you in person, in England last year."

Sam did some mental calculation, and then his eyes widened as he realized several things in short succession. Jacob's build corresponded to the size of the lone wolf, Jacob's ancestor had been a very powerful alpha, and he had just threatened Jacob's father. He took a hasty step away from Billy, putting his hands up.

"Hey now, let's not do anything too rash. We've both had a lot to drink…"

Jacob advanced slowly, deliberately. His suit did very little to camouflage how comfortable he was in his body, how well he knew what it was capable off. His fingers closed around Sam's throat.

"Now I want you to listen to me, and I want you to listen well. Harry is my imprint, and precious to me. I don't ever want to hear anything even remotely negative from you about him. Also, although I have chosen not to at the moment, I can usurp your authority and lead the pack in any direction I want, any time I want. If you piss me off, I will not hesitate to destroy you. Do you understand?"

Sam jerked his head as best as he could with Jacob's meaty fist around it, and Jacob stepped back, releasing him.

"Good. Don't forget it."

Sam looked at him intently. "I won't." he left, and Jacob knelt beside Billy to see if he was alright. Billy smiled proudly at him.

"That's my boy."

They returned to the reception to find that Sam and most of the wolf pack had taken off early. Edward Cullen sent Jacob a foul look from the corner where he'd taken to lurking, Bella close by chatting with Rachel.

Jake just smirked at him and went back to Harry's side, kissing his cheek. Harry smiled at him and squeezed his thigh under the table, mouthing the words 'wedding night' with a devilish look in his eyes.

He forgot all about his confrontation with Sam in favor of imagining everything that he could do to make his wedding night something that neither of them would ever forget.

000

End chapter 46

In case you haven't noticed, this story is drawing to a close soon. Thank you to all of you who have read it faithfully since it's inception!


	47. Chapter 47

CHAPTER 47

Exhausted and uncomfortable from spending the whole day in suits, they collapsed inside their limo and let their driver take them to the airport. Putting up the privacy screen, they wriggled out of their suits and into their traveling clothes without embarrassment. They were supposed to be able to do it at the church, but the staff had thrown a hissy fit when people started throwing rice (apparently they weren't allowed…) and kicked everyone out. It was highly unprofessional of them. Harry was sure that he wouldn't bother referring them to any of his friends in case they decided to get married in the area.

Dressed in jeans, t-shirts, and their normal coats (the ones without lapels), they smiled tiredly at each other. Jacob leaned over and gave him a lingering kiss, threading his fingers through his hair and bracing one hand against the window behind his head.

"I can do that whenever I want." He stated with amazement once they broke apart. Harry frowned.

"What do you mean? I never withheld kisses before we got married."

Jacob shook his head. "I meant that I could do that forever, and you'd still be here."

"Unless I divorce you, of course." Jake pulled back, horrified. Harry laid his hand on his neck, eyes soft, "Relax, big guy. I was just kidding. I could never leave you. I thought that was what wedding vows were for…making it official, how you feel."

Jacob snorted. "Gee, that was coherent of you."

"Shut up, I'm tired."

Jacob sprawled across Harry's lap, nuzzling his hip affectionately. "That makes two of us. How do other couples do it? How on earth can we be expected to consummate anything other than a holy union with a cup of coffee?"

"Holy union? Us?"

Jacob just chortled and went to sleep to the feeling of Harry petting his hair.

000

Their plane landed hours later in Paris. It was snowing, and Harry danced around catching them on his tongue while Jacob called for a cab to take them to their hotel. He hung up and watched Harry act like a little kid fondly for a moment before stepping outside of the booth and joined him.

"It's cold here, but it's beautiful!" Harry announced enthusiastically, throwing his arm around Jacob's neck and doing his best to pull him down so that he could kiss him properly. Jacob pretended to resist for a few seconds before laughing and succumbing to his husband's wishes.

"God, I'm exhausted."

"Me too." Harry sighed, wiping off some saliva that'd leaked off of his chin with his sleeve. A cab pulled up and honked, and Jacob showed his I.D. before opening the door and ushering Harry inside first.

They sat quietly in the cab, holding hands and looking out their separate windows at the snowy wonderland that was Paris in the winter. Seeing that it was very early in the morning, there were very few out and about, which only accentuated the beauty of the architecture.

Their hotel was quite nice, thanks to Harry's sizable fortune, and their room had a bathtub large enough to fit both of them.

"I'm going to take a bath, and then go to bed. how does that sound?" Harry asked, gesturing for the porter to set up his luggage on the side of the bed closer to the wall. Voldemort was long dead, but old habits died hard and he never could convince himself to sleep close to a window when there was a wall available.

"That sounds fine." Jake replied, shrugging out of his damp coat. He tipped the porter, who smiled and left an English version of their room service menu in his hand. "I'm going to order some fruit or something, just to get something in my stomach."

"Okay."

He called room service and ordered their fruit plate, which had oranges in it so he knew that he convince Harry to eat some of it. It was never good to combine jet lag with an empty stomach. Hanging up, he listened to find out what Harry was doing. He could hear the rustling sounds of him undressing, and then the roar of the taps.

Biting his lip, he realized that he wasn't very tired anymore. Undressing as quietly as possible, he crept on tiptoe towards the bathroom and peeked around the corner. Harry dipped his hand in the water, a bottle of what looked like bath salts resting on the rim of the tub. The steam smelled like lavender.

Harry's scars were stretched taught by his kneeling position, crisscrossing his back and legs. No matter what other people might've thought if he'd described it, the scars only added to Harry's beauty.

He swallowed and stepped inside the bathroom, kneeling beside him and putting his hands on his shoulders. Harry turned, not looking at all surprised to see him, and licked his nose.

"Hey. Did you want to join me?"

Instead of answering, Jacob picked him up and stepped into the tub. He hissed from the heat of the water, but sank slowly down, lowering Harry with him. Once he was gingerly seated, Harry floated to the other side and grabbed his flannel and a bar of soap.

"Did you want to go first, or shall I?"

Jacob waved a hand. "You can go first. I think I'll just lay here a moment."

Harry shrugged and soaped up the cloth. When he'd washed everything but his back, he turned in the water and let Jacob do it for him. Jacob took his time, massaging his shoulder blades and lingering over his stump. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the base of his neck, right on the nub of his spine.

He sighed and took Jacob's hand in his own, stroking his fingers and tracing the lines on his square palm. "You have such nice hands, Jake."

He could feel his teeth as he smiled against his shoulder. Jacob nuzzled his neck lovingly, and nipped his ear. Harry jerked, and then laughed.

"How does that keep surprising me?"

"I don't know." Jacob replied, distracted by the way Harry's skin looked so smooth and satiny in the steam-fogged bathroom. He ran his free hand down the length of Harry's arm, sighing at the feel of his skin sliding slickly beneath his fingers. "You're beautiful like this."

"What, do baths suit me?" Harry chortled, turning to face him. He swabbed at his chest playfully with the flannel, and Jacob's control snapped. Harry was pressed against the rim of the tub with Jacob devouring his tongue before he could blink, not that he was complaining.

With a quiet moan, he ran his fingers through his long damp hair and pulled him as close as the tub allowed. He peeked over Jacob's shoulder when he moved to suck on his neck and spied the bottle of conditioner over on the toilet seat, just out of reach.

He pushed gently on Jacob's chest, and got a view of Jacob pouting during the two seconds it took him to snatch the conditioner and unscrew its cap. He handed the open bottle of, of course, lavender conditioner and raised his eyebrows.

"Do you still feel like complaining?"

Jake accepted the bottle and flung one of Harry's legs over his shoulder. "You do know that this will eventually dissolve in the water, right?"

"No it won't. I checked earlier- it's the leave-in kind."

"Oh. Well, that's convenient."

Harry chose to tell him that he'd called the hotel and requested it especially. He flexed his calf warningly instead. "I'm starting to lose feeling in my leg, babe."

"Oh! Sorry." Jacob leaned forward and sheepishly started to prepare him. Sighing, harry bent his other leg forward in a complicated position that allowed him to graze his erection with his toes. Jacob hissed, surprised, and jabbed his fingers upwards roughly. Harry gasped, eyelids fluttering.

He jabbed the fingers upwards again, and was rewarded by the full arch of Harry's foot sliding down his length and the sight of Harry's neck as he threw his head back with a cry.

He withdrew his fingers and ran his palm soothingly down Harry's calf before shifting forward and entering him. Harry gripped his hair, arching to kiss him as Jacob thrust several more times before undocking the leg that wasn't over his shoulder and draping it over the rim of the tub and out of the way.

Harry blushed when he realized how obscene he must look, but wasn't given much chance to think it over before Jacob pushed forward in one fell swoop, pressing firmly against his prostate.

"Fuck!"

Jacob smiled, panting, and had no trouble working out a very fast rhythm that sent the water around them into waves that sloshed over the rim of the tub, soaking the bathmat. Harry arched his back and held onto the tub for dear life, trying very hard not to scream. Nice hotel or not, he knew that the rooms were not sound-proofed.

He reached down and fisted Harry, feeling himself draw closer to the edge. There was something about the heavy steam in the air and the way Harry was so absolutely slick and smooth around him that was driving him insane. He stroked him hard and fast with one hand and held his hip with the other, pulling Harry tightly to him with every thrust.

Harry whimpered, pelvis squirming helplessly as he got closer. Jacob sped up the tempo, snapping upwards while holding Harry absolutely still. Harry tried to bite his lip but threw his head back and groaned as his prostate was pummeled without pause.

"Harry-"

He couldn't say anymore. His body jerked, and then almost seemed to ripple as he thrust one, two, three more times before emptying completely into him, his fist convulsively clenching around his length until he felt him release with a shriek.

He lay limply on top of him, barely able to think. The heat was unbearable, and the water was cold now. Harry hummed something while tracing patterns in Jacob's goose bumps, a very satisfied look on his face.

They lay there peacefully for several moments before Jacob remembered something. "Hey…you didn't wear the garter!"

The fruit plate was waiting outside their door when Jacob opened it wearing a bathrobe to see what was going on. Harry ate the oranges as expected, and then went to sleep still in his bathrobe.

Jacob stayed up a few moments longer, standing by the window and staring out at the snow.

000

When they returned home two glorious weeks later, Charlie Swan invited them to dinner along with Billy, noting that it had been a while since Jacob and Bella had seen each other.

The dinner guests turned out to include Edward Cullen, who didn't eat a bite and sat glaring hatefully at Harry and Jacob. Harry ignored him, and Jacob couldn't seem to make himself look away. There was just something too infuriating about Edward.

Finally, just as they were reaching the dessert course and everyone was starting to relax since nobody had said anything inflammatory, Edward muttered something that shocked everyone at the table when Jacob started to serve Harry a piece of the meringue pie.

Bella gasped and slapped his arm. "Edward!"

Charlie frowned. "I don't care if you're my son in law, I will not have that kind of language in my house!"

Edward surged to his feet, his chair scraping backwards across the wood floor with a squeal. Sending Jacob one last, furious look, he stalked outside to the front porch. Red with embarrassment, Bella stood to go after him but Harry waved his hand at her.

"Wait here. I think that I should confront him about this, or it will just keep happening."

Bella, shamed, could not deny this and only nodded. Charlie supportively put his arm around her, and she curled into him, pressing her face into his shoulder. He stroked her hair a few times, avoiding Jacob's outraged expression.

Harry stepped outside, and folded his arms.

"That was uncalled for. I don't care whether or not you disapprove of our relationship; it was still extremely rude of you to bring it up at a dinner party. Didn't your mother ever teach you about respect?"

Edward turned to look at him with a snarl on his face, and suddenly Harry knew what he was. The animosity between the Quileutes and the Cullens made sense now. Wolves and Vampires were natural enemies, too similar to ever get along.

"I don't care what you have to say, fag! Do you have any idea what your boyfriend is?"

Harry didn't react other than to raise a mocking eyebrow. "If you're referring to the fact that he can turn into a wolf bigger than your car at will, then yes, I know perfectly well what he is. And I know what _you _are, other than a piece of sewage, that is."

Edward seemed confused, but Harry wasn't fooled. He'd interrogated one too many Death Eaters to miss the flash of panic in his eyes. "Oh? And what am I?"

"A Vampire and not a very impressive one from what I can see. Let me guess, you think you're special because you're faster than a normal Vampire or can read minds or something? Well, here's a reality check: you aren't shit. You fall in about a 2 on the Vampire power scale, and the numbers go all the way up to the ones we don't have names for yet. I'd stop strutting around so much if I were you. You never know when the next guy you piss off is going to have a stake in his pocket."

And with that threat hanging in the air, he stepped back inside and took his seat beside Jacob. He served himself some water and winked at Jacob over the rim.

Jacob just shook his head at him, smiling.

Under the table, their feet brushed.

000

Jacob shut the car door and circled to help Harry out. The strength it'd taken to alternately smirk provocatively at and glare like the eye of the devil at Edward for the rest of dinner had tired him out. He flopped happily into Jacob's arms and laughed when he was bounced during the sprint through the rain.

He was set down on the sofa once they were inside, and Jacob toed off his muddy shoes. Harry did the same, and handed his coat to Jacob to hang up. He rolled his eyes but hung up both of their coats.

He offered his hand to Harry, and they walked hand in hand to their bedroom.

Changed into their sleep clothes and minty-breathed, Harry kissed Jacob good night and switched off the light.

000

End chapter 47

End Discovery

THERE WILL BE AN EPILOGUE. But then that's it, okay?


	48. Chapter 48

A/N: Thank you to all of you who reviewed who weren't logged in or don't have an account I appreciate all of your support and encouragement!

To any of you who are new to my work, I'd like to tell you that I have two other completed Twilight/Harry Potter crossovers posted, titled 'Dark Clouds' and 'Resurfacing'.

Also, I _know _that I made the "arms" typo yet again. I'm dutifully embarrassed.

EPILOGUE

Harry sat on the edge of his seat, holding his breath and straining for a glimpse of him over the sea of soon-to-be college graduates.

"Jacob Black, Engineering!"

Jacob stepped forward and accepted the scroll and handshake before moving to stand by the other graduates. He beamed, searching the crowd with his eyes until he saw his family and Harry sitting in the audience. Harry stood and snapped a picture.

As soon as they were dismissed, he pushed his way through the applauding throng to wrap his arms around him.

Harry laughed, holding tightly onto his neck. "I'm so proud of you!"

He held him tight. "I'm proud of me too."

Billy slapped him on the back of his leg to catch his attention and he separated from Harry to hug his neck. "Congratulations, son!"

"Thanks, dad!"

Breaking away, he stood and asked, "So what are we doing for lunch? The party isn't until six, right?"

Harry laughed. "Babe, it's three-thirty! You had lunch two hours ago."

He blinked at him. "Exactly. Come on, you know how much my furry side needs to feed!"

The restaurant they picked, a nice grill in La Push, was small and warm. There were barely three feet between the tables, which made Billy's wheelchair a bit of a nuisance to the couple next to them. They ignored their muttered remarks in favor of congratulating Jacob every couple of seconds and listening to him talk about stuff his friends had done the night before while nervous.

000

The house was decorated with streamers and balloons courtesy of Rebecca, and the cake had his name on it.

"Oh my god, you guys didn't have to do so much!" Jacob gushed, looking around the nearly unrecognizable house with awe. Not even the sofas were spared. Crisscrossing lines of streamers covered them in amateur plaid. "So, when do people start getting here?"

"In about half an hour," Harry provided, shepherding him down the hall to their room. "That gives you enough time to freshen up."

The door closed behind them and Harry sat down on the bed to take off his shoes. They were slip-ons, like the rest of his shoes, to save on the frustration of tying knots with one hand. Jacob sat beside him and smoothed some of his hair behind his ear. On unanimous vote, Harry started growing out his hair until it was almost as long as Jacob's. Much to their surprise, it turned out to curl once it passed his chin.

"Do you want me to brush your hair?"

"Sure." Harry chirped, perking up immediately despite the long car ride. Jacob knew how much he loved getting babied, no matter what he said, and happily complied whenever he wasn't too busy.

"Harry?"

"Mm?" Harry took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"What do you want to do for our anniversary this year?"

Harry laughed incredulously. "Babe, our anniversary isn't for over half a year yet!"

"I know, but I just thought that we should do something big this year, since it's our 5th, and the sooner you make big plans the smoother they go later. I don't want to do things last minute like we did last year."

They shared a smile, remembering the last minute dinner at McDonald's just moments before midnight last year. They'd both forgotten about it, and barely managed to celebrate it before the day was over.

"Okay, point taken. What did you have in mind?"

"Well…what about moving?"

He blinked. "Moving?"

"Yeah; you know that Rachel is moving back onto the Reservation to keep an eye on dad, right? Not to mention that she hasn't found somewhere to stay yet. I thought that, since dad would be taken care of, we could look into finding someplace that was just ours." He set aside the hair brush and kissed the top of Harry's head.

"Well…if Billy would be okay, then I don't see a reason not to. You'll still see your sisters, and we both know that my friends make a point of tracking me down every once in a while, especially Ginny and her new husband, so…okay. I'm open to it, but let's think about it."

Jacob rolled his eyes at the memory of Ginny's serial weddings. She was on her third husband now, and she wasn't even 25 yet. "Of course; that's why we're thinking about this now, and not later."

"Speaking of later," Harry turned and smirked at him, "did you have any intention of testing your new engineering skills on me?"

He stood and pulled Harry to his feet, feeling much better now that he was wearing just his socks and could take his hair out of its ponytail. "That depends on how early the party ends. I wouldn't want to start something that we can't finish."

Rachel pounded on the door. "Hey! I did not want to hear that!"

"What were you doing eavesdropping?!" Jacob yelled back, jerking the door open a moment later. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Please…all I had to do was walk down here to the bathroom and I got an earful of your nasty talk. I know you think you're being subtle, but I wasn't born yesterday and-"

Jacob put his hand over her mouth. "I don't want to know about your sex life."

She made an outraged noise, but Jacob sprinted for the kitchen before she could say anything. Harry shrugged helplessly as if to say 'what can you do?' and followed him to help.

"Jerks!"

The party went well, with a lot of Jacob's college friends stopping by from their own parties to congratulate him and steal some cake. Charlie slapped him on the back, and expressed how proud he was of him for getting such a difficult degree. In short, everything was fine until Harry noticed Bella and her husband skulking in a corner.

He hadn't seen much of Bella over the past five years, and he couldn't help but notice how much older she looked now. With a little sigh, he decided to be the better man and approach them like a proper host. If he was lucky, they would leave before Jacob could notice and pitch a fit.

"Hey, guys!" He said brightly, brandishing his drink, "How are you?"

Bella perked up, looking very relieved to have someone to talk to. The clouds floating over Edward's head thickened. "Hey, Harry! We're good. How are you? You…you look really good."

"How sweet of you to say!" Harry gave them his best sparkly-toothed smile, "I've been good. I'm so proud of Jake I could burst!" Casually, he sat down on the edge of the sofa they were occupying. "What have you been doing lately? I haven't gossiped about you with your dad, so I have no idea what's been going on in your life. Which college are you attending?"

She seemed confused, and Edward let out a little growl, "Oh, I'm not attending college. I almost dropped out of high school, so there was no way I was going to put up with more school!"

Harry nodded slowly. "Right…well, excuse me, but I have to go and mingle some more. It was nice seeing you again, Bella! And tell your husband that maybe if he removed that massive log from up his ass, he might be better company. Tootleloo!"

He left before they could retaliate, searching the crowd until he spotted Jacob chatting animatedly with Su Yung, one of his closest friends. Jacob looked up, still talking, and winked at him. They exchanged secret smiles and went back to their guests.

000

On Boxing Day, they moved from Forks to Alaska and never looked back. Unwary tourists who stray too far from the beaten path might encounter a wolf the size of a small car frolicking like a foal and terrorizing the rabbit population.

000

End chapter 48


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